Bringing together artists and creative technological innovators from the Yale School of Music, Yale Department of Music, CCAM, and beyond, and exploring themes of disability, embodiment, futurism, and feminism, our project presents an evening of cross-disciplinary musical experience and discussion that questions how storytellers control, promote, and limit narratives of AI in the public consciousness.

A 40’ minute performance of Maya Miro Johnson’s 2024 science fiction Violin Concerto by Emma Meinrenken and a chamber orchestra comprised of YSM students and guests from the Curtis Institute is followed by a panel discussion with interdisciplinary professors about how fictional narratives shape our anxieties and aspirations for technology.

Throughout history, artists, musicians, and writers have been the first to challenge technological developments and imagine dystopian futures on behalf of the public -- so much so, that our social consciousness is highly shaped by these fantasy narratives of technology that have primed us to think about AI and technology in specific ways. Cultural anxiety about cyborgs and AI usually revolve around wresting power from humanity. Drawing from Walter Benjamin and Gilbert Simondon, among others, the Violin Concerto instead redirects that anxiety into guardianship of the new motherless children we are creating.

Battell Chapel

March 31, 2025
7:30pm

400 College Street
No registration or ticket necessary
Accessible entrance in Old Campus Courtyard