Alterity marks the return of musician and media-archaeologist Jacco Gardner, and takes us back to the eighties –a decade in which machines weren’t used to mimic humans, but to create. This is not a vision of a bleak AI-future – rather, it’s a playful and optimistic journey into the creativity shared by man and machine.
Gardner looks back onto the arrival of home computers like the Atari ST and Commodore, that brought the creative process into people’s homes. Films and music originated outside of the traditional studio system, without cameras or musical instruments, but through generative software.
Gardner is inspired by the groundbreaking experiments of media artists like video game designer Jeff Minter and composer Adrian Wagner. Their digitally made film Merak (1988) – with its graphics made with generative software Llamasoft and music composed with Wagners intelligent sequencer M – forms the basis of Alterity.
Through this installation and performance, Gardner brings the software to life. Sound, images and algorithms interact with each other in real time, continuously creating new combinations. Visitors can experience this live, or explore the installation independently. Alterity invites the viewer not to see technology as a tool to mimic humans, but to see it as a fully developed creative partner.
– Eva Langerak
Film details
- Productieland
- Netherlands
- Jaar
- 2026
- Festivaleditie
- IFFR 2026
- Lengte
- 60'
- Medium/Formaat
- -
