Since its 2016 inception in Paris, the Night of Ideas (La Nuit des Idées) gathers French and international thinkers to discuss major issues of our time each year around the globe. The Night of Ideas in London takes place 6 February 2025 at the Institut Français (17 Queensberry Pl, London, SW7 2DT, England).

Professor of Engineering, Elaine Chew (ERC COSMOS), and Research Director and Head of Music Representations at the STMS Lab / IRCAM, Gérard Assayag (ERC REACH), partner in a demonstration-performance with generative AI somax2 and heart-breath visualisations by heartfm to set the stage for a panel discussion on AI’s impact on art creation.

In the demonstration, Elaine Chew plays the Institut’s 1907 Pleyel grand piano in a musical duel with somax2 which is steered by Gérard Assayag whilst their heartbeats and breathing are visualised by heartfm in a semi-improvised performance of music by Pierre Boulez (Elez-Boulaine) with a dash of music by Maurice Ravel in celebration of Boulez’s centenary.

Further details on
the panel can be found at https://cosmos.isd.kcl.ac.uk/?p=6058
on the performance can be found at https://cosmos.isd.kcl.ac.uk/?p=6102