From May 7th to May 17th, the Milieux Institute is hosting Hexagram Co-Director, Sofian Audry, for a residency to work on Morphoses, a project developed alongside Hexagram collaborator Rosalie D. Gagné.

This residency marks the ongoing collaboration between the two institutions. Initiated in 2017 and presented for its world premiere in September 2024 at the Neuberher Museum of Art in New York, Morphoses is a pioneering research-creation project involving artificial life forms featuring three spheroid robots.

Though mechanically identical and equipped with shared learning algorithms, each robot boasts a unique exterior thanks to synthetic silicone “skins”. Empowered by a pair of servomotors—one for the traction, the other for the steering—the robots can navigate space autonomously and detect their own spatial position and rotation thanks to an inertial measurement unit and a real-time localization system.

Stemming from preoccupations with the phenomenology of living systems, Morphoses proposes a poetic experience of machine learning centered on the establishment of an intimate relationship between human and non-human life forms.

ABOUT SOFIAN AUDRY:

Sofian Audry is an artist, scholar, Professor of Interactive Media within the School of Media at the University of Quebec in Montreal and Co-Director of the Hexagram Network for Research-Creation in Art, Culture and Technology. Their work explores the behavior of hybrid agents at the frontier of art, artificial intelligence, and artificial life. Audry’s book “Art in the Age of Machine Learning” examines machine learning and its practice in art and music (MITPress, 2021). Audry’s artistic practice branches through multiple forms including robotics, installations, bio-art, and electronic literature. Their work has been shown at major international events and venues.