A BRIEF Q&A ON AI AND MERE MORTALS
- Mere Mortals
Exploring parallels between Pandora’s curiosity and contemporary society
Mere Mortals parallels the millennia-old story of Pandora’s fated curiosity with contemporary society, exploring the consequences and ethical dilemmas of rapid technological advancement—particularly AI—as humanity grapples with the forces it has unleashed and the path forward.
HOW IS AI USED IN THE CREATION OF MERE MORTALS?
Mere Mortals is a reimagination of the Pandora and Prometheus myths inspired by the ethically complicated discovery and proliferation of artificial intelligence. While AI is used as a thematic prompt and a tool with which to explore the visual environment of the piece, the creative team abstained from integrating AI technology into the choreography, music composition, and dramaturgy of the piece—which are 100% human-developed.
HOW IS AI TECHNOLOGY BEING DEPLOYED?
We commissioned Barcelona-based creative studio Hamill Industries, which specializes in creating performance environments that mix emerging and traditional techniques, to develop the visual environment for the production on stage in Mere Mortals.
The projected imagery and video predominantly uses practical, real-life effects. Some imagery has been generated with the help of AI—sourced from highly curated image datasets—specifically during the moment when Pandora is created, but the rest is created by Hamill with analog in-camera visual effects.
