Chicago Creative Machines is a lecture-performance series featuring artists who use machine learning and ML-adjacent tools and techniques in their creative practices. Each event consists of a technical lecture/demonstration by the artist of their tools followed by a performance of work they’ve created using those tools. No previous knowledge of machine learning, coding, algorithms, or computation is required!

All CCM events are free to attend and take place at Experimental Sound Studio in Chicago, IL.
All CCM events will be streamed and video/audio archived for viewing anywhere.

February 25, 2024 // [Watch Here]
2:00 - 4:00 pm
Hugo Flores García discussed his research in machine learning and music, where he designs artist-centered interfaces for creative expression through sound. He also shared several tools and techniques he uses for creating sound art with machine learning. Hugo presented an 8-channel fixed media composition for voice and a generative model and performed a solo set of improvised music with an ML powered instrument.

March 3, 2024 // [Watch Here]
2:00 - 4:00 pm
Hunter Brown demonstrated how he incorporates machine learning techniques into the control of sound synthesis algorithms implemented in a custom SuperCollider instrument he uses for free improvisation.

March 10, 2024 // [Watch Here]
2:00 - 4:00 pm
Julie Zhu will talk about her obsession with the sound of writing and drawing and how it's played an important role in her interdisciplinary collaborations, from chamber compositions to video installations to spatial audio experiments.  She will also talk about the new digital co-performer currently being developed using deep learning models trained on her drawing habits.

March 17, 2024 // [Watch Here]
2:00 - 4:00 pm
In a talk titled "Undiscerning Mirrors," X. A. Li will discuss the aesthetic possibilities of deep neural networks given both their architectural constraints and societal context. How can artists approach machine learning systems critically and inventively, beyond assuming the functional paradigms established by scientists and tech companies? The talk will be followed by a performance of paired video and sound pieces Instruction and Ecstasies, exploring the dogma of self-optimization amplified, embodied, and refracted by algorithms.

Q+A with the Artists (Watch Here)
March 30, 2024
9:00 - 10:00 am
X. A. Li, Julie Zhu, Hunter Brown, Hugo Flores Garcia, and Molly Jones streamed a live Zoom conversation about machine learning as a part of their creative practices: its promise, its pitfalls, its concerns, its challenges, and future directions in their own work and artist/engineer collaboration.

Experimental Sound Studio
5925 N Ravenswood
Chicago, IL 60660
link to stream