Posthuman Loyalties
May 31, 2025 | Online
Artist Statement
Rooted in contemporary and improvisational dance, my work centers the human body as material and medium. I create participatory experiences to be lived, not just observed, and aim to bring people together through movement to encourage connection, presence, and new forms of ritual. These encounters open space for embodied reflection and expression beyond language.
Collaboration is central to my process—whether with artists, participants, or technologies—shaping each work as a dialogic and evolving encounter. This unfolds across varied contexts, from in-person settings to digital platforms, and can also take place within traditional performance venues. I’m especially drawn to formats that invite audience agency and co-authorship, dissolving the boundaries between performer and witness.
Contextual Statement
A tension is rising—a dialectic between the human and the digital non-human.
The project began with the research question: As the Anthropocene epoch becomes increasingly fragmented, how can artificial intelligence (AI) contribute to creating new embodied experiences for humans? It was explored as practice-based research through dance and the use of AI systems, under the original title Embodied Futures. Over time, a secondary question emerged: How does one balance personal survival in a world of perpetual growth while remaining sensitive to the human collective? The project is now part of a broader inquiry titled Posthuman Loyalties, which brings together the development process, public outcome, and reflections.
This was explored through the creation of a two-part audio work: (1) an AI-generated self-critical introduction, and (2) an AI-generated guided improvisational movement script, totaling 00:35:10. The scripts functioned as an instructional ethos and fell under genres of participatory and instructional art. The introduction themes included anthropomorphism, technophobia, trust in AI, and ethical concerns around AI, and the movement practice drew on Western-derived dance techniques. Although not situated in nature, it aligned with environmental dance, a way of generating ecological knowledge and blurring the boundaries between flesh and environment. The scripts were generated using OpenAI’s GPT-4 and synthesized with MINIMAX Audio. This was layered with a soundscape composed by Jean-Pierre Barbier, based on a sound design brief generated by OpenAI’s Audio Mastermind.
The project was presented as a live virtual event via Zoom. Participants connected simultaneously from Belgium, France, and the USA, engaging with the work in homes, workspaces, and public parks. They could turn cameras on or off, enter or leave, move or simply listen, and share feedback at their own will. The complete audio is also available as a podcast episode on Spotify, offering a more intimate and private participation.
The project drew on earlier dance explorations of chance operation and digital tools in choreography, as well as works that prioritize lived experience, shared presence, and embodied rituals over the production of material objects. It worked with the idea that while the eye perceives an object at a distance, listening can be more immersive as sound moves through the body, challenging the distance between subject and object.
The work sits within evolving cultural practices of posthuman embodiment, digital ritual, and AI–human co-creation.
Public Experience (2025)
Zoom-based live session from Embodied Futures | Experience facilitated by Tyler Galster | Image of participants captured during the introduction and guided improvisational movement practice | Belgium, France, USA | Zoom built-in recording software & GoPro HERO 12 camera
The virtual space emerged as an unpredictable environment, shaped by varying camera resolutions, participant positioning, and framing.
Video Excerpts from the Public Experience – Embodied Futures (2025)
Featuring selected segments of the AI-generated introduction and guided movement practice, along with moving images from the live virtual event. Participant engagement and feedback are presented through audio, video, and text. Captured using Zoom’s built-in recording software and a GoPro HERO 12 camera.
Video Excerpts of Process – Testing & Development Participant Feedback (2025)
This link includes a selection of documentation from testing sessions and feedback shared by development participants. These materials reflect aspects of the iterative development process behind the AI-guided improvisational movement practice and how variations were explored. Participants included professional and non-professional dancers. The professional dancers often drew from an internalized language of embodiment—a coded rhetoric shaped by years of repetition and training. This paralleled the AI’s own reliance on coded instruction, highlighting how both human and non-human systems operate within learned patterns.
GoPro HERO 12 Camera | Audio Recording iPhone 13