Bochum Ci Update feat. Ensemble Handwriting
Creative Direction and Design for Schauspielhaus Bochum. Script-Workshop with Ensemble.
AI Programming by Simon Knebl. With Larissa Leich. Special Tag: AI
Read about the Ensemble typeface/ handwriting on the right column. The Idea, the making, the sources. It's next level :)
Before: Collecting fragments of handwriting samples from various Ensemble members.
After: The AI is able to calculate the characteristics of the individual handwritings. Through a generator, desired texts can be rendered in the Ensemble’s handwriting, for example: "Willst Du mit mir Quesadillas essen?"
Within the publication, handwriting is reserved for phrases that might be spoken by the ensemble or actors. This way the publication itself gets another voice, another layer.
We surprised the actors also to draw the Schauspielhaus Bochum logo out of their memory :) Using this material, the AI can now create new variations inspired by their sketches and reinterpretations:
Further applications: posters, website and more. To be documented soon. Watch out!
In the meantime, always worth a visit: Schauspielhaus Bochum
One common script font emerged from handwritings of all Ensemble members.
Utilizing Alex Graves paper
“Generating Sequences with Recurrent Neural Networks” and its TensorFlow implementation by Sean Vasquez
The work we are doing for Schauspielhaus Bochum carries the working title "Group Material". Pursuing this idea to its fullest, we actively involve the Ensemble in shaping the visual identity:
Therefore we teamed up with Simon Knebl who programmed an "AI" tool, simulating neural networks. We fed it with handwritten texts from the entire Ensemble. Based on these writing samples, the tool analyzed the individual characteristics of written letters and ligatures and thus learned: the collective handwriting of all those who stand together on stage at the Schauspielhaus Bochum. Performing theater, being an Ensemble, a community – now with a shared handwriting that is more than the sum of its individual parts!
The online tool we developed can visualize the desired handwriting, ready to download as an image/path or animation. This gesture allows the Ensemble / the communication of the theatre to speak in its own unique style. Very well recognizable.
We invited also the actors to reinterpret the Schauspielhaus Bochum logo in their own drawings. Using this material, the AI can create new variations inspired by their sketches as well.