Kate Steenhauer is a visual artist who has an expanded multi-disciplinary practice that includes working in visual arts, filmmaking and technology including Artificial Intelligence. Painting Music is one of her multifaceted productions that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to create music from live-painted drawings, in real time and unique for each performance. Painting Music is a ground-breaking Research & Development company comprised of Artist & Filmmaker Kate Steenhauer and Artificial Intelligence (AI) developers Dr Starkey and Jack Caven.

The team explores how cutting-edge AI techniques can facilitate multifaceted relationships between music and visual art. Most AI techniques that are used in artistic endeavours are off-the-shelf methods that are black box and cannot explain what they are doing. Painting Music however uses algorithms that are explainable, which is innovative even in the field of AI, and the combination of AI, painting and music represents to the best of our knowledge a world’s first. Painting Music produces creative tools for audiences to explore AI’s limitations, encompassing performance & audience-interactive app, live talks and audio-visual installation centred around Ada Lovelace. Painting Music is a unique way of storytelling centred around the question Is AI good or bad?, tapping into the public’s fear – or excitement of AI and the change that this will bring to all facets of society.