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Tomás Laurenzo
ArtistTomás Laurenzo is an artist and academic whose work spans physical and digital media, exploring the artistic construction of meaning and its relationship with power and politics. With a background in computer science and art, his research and practice encompass Human-Computer Interaction, Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality. His artistic production includes installations, interactive art, music, live cinema and digital lutherie, and has been presented across the Americas, Europe, Asia and Oceania.
Since 2014, Laurenzo has been an Assistant Professor at the School of Creative Media at City University of Hong Kong. Previously, he was an Associate Professor at the University of the Republic in Uruguay, where he founded and directed the Engineering School’s media lab. He has also worked as an associate researcher and visiting professor at various institutions and collaborated with organisations including Microsoft Research, Carnegie Mellon University, Brunel University and INRIA. He has published extensively in New Media Art and Human-Computer Interaction and holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Tokyo, supervised by Dr Alvaro Cassinelli.
The project 5500 explores the relationship between a pianist, a piano and an electronic system that interferes with the performance. Beyond the interaction between performer and instrument, the work uses the body as a form of representation, creating a tension between the pianist’s intentions and the interventions introduced by the EMS system. The sounds produced by electrical relays, together with minimalist visual representations of data, become part of the sensory experience. By questioning whether technology expands the possibilities of piano performance or creates an artistic practice alongside it, the work investigates how interfaces can shape meaning and transform the way an instrument is played and understood.
