Intelligent Music – Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

The CTM Festival is one of the world’s leading festivals of contemporary electronic and experimental music. Since 1999, the organisers have staged the festival to coincide with the transmediale in Berlin, always focusing on music outside established Western musical traditions. The festival sees itself as a platform for reflecting on music, its social relevance and the underlying conditions of its development. In 2018, the festival has turned its attention to the latest technological developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, and their implications for the field of music. Computer technology in music has resulted in increased automatisation and software- and machine-aided autonomy, both of which support musicians with creating, producing and performing music. In certain areas, the capabilities of musical AI and machine-based improvisation systems already surpass the abilities of human musicians. Nonetheless, software developers do not fully understand how these systems produce their results which can be regarded as a form of creative output. The festival has showcased outstanding projects and artists, and stage concerts and workshops which highlighted the latest artistic and commercial research. Together with composers, musicians and researchers, the festival has invited participants to discuss the potentials and critical dimensions of these technologies in further detail.

Artists: Antwood (CA), Dahlia Borsche, Frédérick Belzile (CA), George E. Lewis (US), Holly Herndon (US/DE), Ioann Maria (UK), Lawrence Lek, Marco Donnarumma (IT/DE), Marcus Schmickler, Mat Dryhurst (US/DE), Moritz Simon Geist, Peter Flemming (CA), Peter Kirn (US/DE), Roscoe Mitchell (US) and others