During his two-week visit to the MIT campus in Fall 2022, creative coder Andreas Refsgaard shared his perspective from working at the intersection of art and interaction design, and demonstrated some of the tools and techniques of machine learning—many of them open-source—that he uses to create his playful, interactive projects.

Refsgaard uses a sense of humor and fun to involve his audience in an exploration of the possible benefits, drawbacks, and ethical dilemmas that such technologies could bring to our daily lives.

While on campus, Refsgaard taught two workshops geared toward MIT students of any major who are working on machine learning technologies with potential applications in the arts. He also visited MIT Music and Theater Arts classes to provide guidance on interdisciplinary student projects in such areas as electronic music composition, digital instrument design, and interactive music systems.

The residency culminated in an exhibit of Refsgaard’s work installed at the MIT Lewis Music Library, a campus hub for experimentation in audio production, editing, and creation. The two interactive installations, Doodle Tunes and Sounds from the Mouth, are on display through December 2022.

Learn more about the project at arts.mit.edu/machine-learning