The Laughing Room
November 16–18, 2018
An interactive multimedia installation by Jonny Sun, in collaboration with Hannah Davis and Christopher Sun. Research assistant: Nikhil Dharmaraj.
Created at metaLAB(at)Harvard and Prof. Stephanie Frampton’s ARTificial Intelligence group at MIT.
Funded by metaLAB(at)Harvard, the MIT De Florez Fund for Humor, the Council of the Arts at MIT, and the MIT Center For Art, Science & Technology. Supported by MIT FX and High Output, Inc. Sponsored by the Cambridge Public Library and MIT Libraries.
#TheLaughingRoom
Press:
The Boston Globe
Boston Magazine
The Harvard Gazette
MIT SHASS News
Harker News
1/THE LAUGHING ROOM is an interactive art installation in which participants enter an artificially intelligent room, designed to resemble a sitcom set, that plays a laugh track whenever the participants say something that the room’s algorithm deems to be worth laughing with.
The Laughing Room is connected to a machine learning algorithm trained on large dataset of audio transcripts of stand-up comedians. The algorithm will determine the patterns that precede laughter, and then react accordingly to the voices of the live participants.
Participants will spend time in the room learning how to “perform” to the room, and reacting to the emotional response that the room provides. The piece will also be recorded and live-streamed via video camera and audio to THE CONTROL ROOM, hosted in parallel at the MIT Libraries.
The project addresses the increasing social and cultural roles of responsive technologies in public and private spaces, users’ agency within and their dependence on these emerging emotional-social technologies, and the implicit questions of privacy involved in these systems. It also aims to address the ubiquity of emotionally manipulative online algorithms and platforms creating a translation of such an algorithm into a real world space.
2/THE CONTROL ROOM is the companion installation to The Laughing Room. It is an interactive installation that features several screens showing different views of The Laughing Room, including real-time streaming video and audio of the exhibit itself, as well as live-streams from social media feeds such as Periscope/Twitter, Instagram Live, and Facebook Live.
The Control Room’s live-stream videos will be available for public online viewing when The Laughing Room is open, and are accessible at the following links: Periscope / Instagram / Youtube / Facebook / Twitch
LOCATIONS AND TIMES:
1/THE LAUGHING ROOM will be installed at the Cambridge Public Library, Main Branch at 449 Broadway, Cambridge, MA.
It will be open during the following times:
Friday, November 16, 2.00p–5.00p
Saturday, November 17, 9.00a–5.00p
Sunday, November 18, 1.00p–3.00p
2/THE CONTROL ROOM will be installed at the MIT Hayden Library (14S-100) at 160 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA.
It will be open during regular library hours. During times when the Cambridge Public Library is closed, The Control Room will feature previously recorded videos (reruns) of The Laughing Room performances.
SPECIAL EVENTS:
Friday, November 16, 4.00p–5.00p
Opening Reception at the Cambridge Public Library.
Saturday, November 17, 12.00–3.00p
Complimentary shuttle buses will run between The Laughing Room (Cambridge Public Library) and The Control Room (MIT Hayden Library).
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