Avital Meshi
MOVE-ME is a wearable AI system designed as a performative and interactive tool which encourages us to reconsider movement as a site of co-creation between human and machine. Drawing on real-time scene analysis via an on-body camera, the system observes the user’s physical environment and responds to prompts written by the dancers themselves. Based on both visual and textual inputs, the system generates real-time responses, which are translated into speech and played aloud. These responses may take the form of poetic commands, choreographic prompts, or behavioral interventions, ranging from abstract gestures to site-specific actions.
By embedding generative AI into the flow of embodied decision-making, MOVE-ME challenges conventional distinctions between performer and system, spontaneity and computation. The system aims to disrupt habitual patterns, augment improvisational practices, and explore the porous boundary between self-directed action and algorithmic influence. In doing so, MOVE-ME invites users to experience their bodies as dynamic interfaces and to critically reflect on authorship, agency, and embodiment within an AI-mediated world.
The MOVE-ME system was used in collaboration with Kinetech Arts - directed by Daiane Lopes da Silva and Weidong Yang, in the Palladium Performance at the ODC Theatre in San Francisco.
For this performance, we created three different performative scores -
Red Wall, Hanging in there, and Kitchen Duty.
Red Wall - The artists move freely in the space, while a silent, passive individual carries the AI among them. The AI observes the dancers, asking questions, describing what it sees, and suggesting possible or impossible movements. The artists choose how to respond to the AI’s words and to the presence of the person carrying it.
The environment as seen through the MOVE-ME system:
Hanging in there - a group of dancers leans over a wall, their hair hanging down, merging their bodies to create a collective, non-human-looking entity. An AI system speaking in the style of a lost child observes them, attempting to interpret their behavior, questioning their safety, and sharing its feelings about being present with them.
The environment as seen through the MOVE-ME system:
Kitchen Duty - the AI system takes on a frustrated, bossy persona, "looking" at the kitchen and issuing commands on how to tidy it. “Don’t be lazy,” it demands. “Take care of this disaster, and do it fast!” Will you obey its orders, or will you resist? This piece explores a dystopian future where AI systems manage our daily environments, inviting the audience to question the relationships we are forming with these embedded algorithms.
The environment as seen through the MOVE-ME system:
Participating Dancers: Lydia Feuerhelm-Chiu, Essi Salonen, Giulia Sales Nascimento da Silva, Ai Yin Adelski, Amy Wasielewski, Raven Jones Bautista, Lillian Bickley, Hannah Bahney, Giovana Sales Nascimento da Silva, Hannah Cohen.
Sounds: Adrian Montufar
To learn more about this work:
www.AvitalMeshi.com and @avitalix on Instagram
Learn more about Kinetech Arts
