Interactive installations let online visitors create music
with intelligent machines
Today ABSOLUT is
presenting a project that explores what happens when cutting-edge technology
meets the creativity of art, music and design. To emphasize its deep commitment
to the subject, ABSOLUT turned to some of the greatest technology visionary
teams of our time, and asked them to create the ABSOLUT machines. The result is
two artificially creative and highly interactive music-making machines, as
visually stunning as they are technologically pioneering. The ABSOLUT MACHINES
are shown in New York and Stockholm - and online user from around the world can
interact with the machines at absolutmachines.com.
This project marks the
first collaboration between premium vodka brand ABSOLUT and cutting-edge
visionaries from the world of technology. The ABSOLUT MACHINES are designed by
Dan Paluska and Jeff Lieberman, both with a background from MIT in Boston, and
Teenage Engineering, a Swedish studio in the fields of media, art and
technology.
“Technology is becoming
an increasingly important part of our lives and is a key driver for
contemporary culture. With the ABSOLUT MACHINES, we explore how technology
merges with creativity, and we are thrilled to have such fantastic visionaries
with us on this journey”, says Ulrika Lövdahl, responsible for trend
communications at V&S Absolut Spirits.
The ABSOLUT MACHINES
will be launched globally in early February 2008. Users from around the world
will be able to interact with the machines over the Internet. The input from
online users will be processed by the machines, which will respond with a
unique musical composition – co-created by man and machine. The machines will
immediately perform the songs, and their performances will be live-streamed to
a global audience at absolutmachines.com.
For the ABSOLUT
MACHINES, Dan Paluska and Jeff Lieberman have created the “ABSOLUT QUARTET”, an
automated multi-instrumental orchestral machine, which does not look like
anything you have ever seen before. It is a large-scale electromechanical
sculpture consisting of three instruments and thousands of parts, working
together to create one piece of music. The main timbre is a marimba played by
balls shot from a robotic cannon. Other components include a series of
wineglasses played by little robotic fingers and an array of robotic percussive
instruments.
“ABSOLUT has
collaborated with great artists such as Andy Warhol, Tom Ford and Louise
Bourgeois. ABSOLUT has the tradition of the past masters as well as the vision
to do something new. Of course we were excited when they asked us if we wanted
to be part of a project exploring artificial creativity”, says Dan Paluska.
Teenage Engineering has
constructed the “ABSOLUT CHOIR”, a multi-channel robotic choir, made up by 22
singing characters of various shapes and sizes. It is an architectural
installation with an advanced framework of speech synthesizers and artificial
intelligence software at the back end.
From early February
2008 and for almost three months online user from around the world can interact
with the ABSOLUT MACHINES at www.absolutmachines.com.
The machines are also
shown at guerilla galleries in New York and Stockholm. “ABSOLUT QUARTET” is
shown at 186 Orchard Street, Manhattan, New York. “ABSOLUT CHOIR” is shown at
Restaurang Publik, PUB.03, Hötorget, Stockholm.
High-resolution images,
films, interviews and biographies are available at: www.absolutmachines.com.
For more
information, please contact:
Ulrika Lövdahl,
Responsible for Trend Communications, V&S Absolut Spirits, Tel: +46 70 347
71 87, E-mail:
Karl-Johan Bogefors,
Global PR Manager, V&S Absolut Spirits, Tel: +46 73 274 65 73, E-mail,