OPENINGS
05 Body Prompting Unpredictability
ARS PROMENDI
The term prompt comes from English, meaning "stimulus," "suggestion," or "incitement." Its etymological root traces back to the Latin promptus, meaning "ready, prepared," which itself derives from promere—"to bring forth, to bring to light." Ars Promendi, the art of bringing forth (promere) something from potential into manifestation, through a process of activation. This concept can be seen as a bridge between creative practices and contemporary generative models, especially in the context of prompting in AI and movement research. In this view, Ars Promendi is not only the skill of crafting effective inputs for a generative model to produce images or texts. It is also a broader art form that encompasses:
The term prompt comes from English, meaning "stimulus," "suggestion," or "incitement." Its etymological root traces back to the Latin promptus, meaning "ready, prepared," which itself derives from promere—"to bring forth, to bring to light." Ars Promendi, the art of bringing forth (promere) something from potential into manifestation, through a process of activation. This concept can be seen as a bridge between creative practices and contemporary generative models, especially in the context of prompting in AI and movement research. In this view, Ars Promendi is not only the skill of crafting effective inputs for a generative model to produce images or texts. It is also a broader art form that encompasses:
- The body in motion, exploring states of perception and improvisation to generate new forms.
- Language, which describes, evokes, and guides creation.
- Technology, which amplifies and reinterprets what is suggested, creating a feedback loop between human and AI.
Between Artists and Artificial Intelligence / excerpt
On Saturday, April 5, the Cerchio 91 space in Lugano-Besso hosted an event organized by the Centro Generativo, titled The Body Calls for Unpredictability. Artists, writers, dancers, producers, directors, and image researchers—both still and moving—gathered to engage with the elusive, and for some infamous, AI. The meeting revolved around thematic keywords: unpredictability, fall, and exchange—stimuli that flowed from human to machine and back again. "Prompting" was the starting concept—how to establish a relationship with artificial intelligence through instructions, exploring the process and models to see what happens, whether in text, visuals, or sound. People moved about, others worked at computer stations, and some sat observing with curiosity. In one video loop, a little bunny endlessly hopped over water—a prompt for creative potential, mirrored in fluid movements on the solid floor.
Manuela Bernasconi led this first "training session," playing on contrasts between weight and lightness, stability and falling, with theatrical sways that hinted at storytelling. And always, change in instability—that change which, after all, is the thread of life: up and down, right and left, speed and slowness, small collapses and recoveries. In threes, alone, or in clusters of encounter and collision. Bodies shifted through vertical and horizontal phases, sometimes still, sometimes full or empty, exchanging physical and emotional states.
(...)
Psychotherapist Rita Pezzati shared insights from her work with people affected by dementia. When memory—and thus meaning—is lost, another kind of memory remains, one that is embodied and implicit, present from birth and activated involuntarily. Beyond words, the body remains, a physical self capable of capturing sudden moments of grace. Later, in response to the improvisational choreographies on falling, and drawing on Porges’ studies and polyvagal theory, she noted how humans seek certainty but cannot live without exploring the new. That exploration entails losing one's anchors—but this dynamic, this rhythm of balance, imbalance, and rebalancing, shapes our way of being in the world. Losing oneself only to find oneself again, like bodies in motion, like the ever-present risk of falling—a game we begin as children.
The final act brought bodies into real-time interaction with improvised words spoken into a microphone and live music. Meanwhile, images reprocessed through AI by Felix Bachmann Quadros were projected, creating an effect of abstracted delocalization. These were still the same bodies—and yet something else, or at least that’s what the machine wants us to believe. Thankfully, the event moved beyond that illusion, because, as Manuela Bernasconi concluded, what we’re really talking about is human relationships.
—Manuela Camponovo
05BODY PROMPTING UNPREDECTABILITY
Saturday, April 5, 2025
Generative Center
@Cerchio 91
Experimental encounter between movers, writers, and AI artists.
Open to all
A gathering that brought together dance, writing, philosophy, and technology to explore the dialogue between the moving body and the generation of images through artificial intelligence (AI) models. This event, open to dancers, writers of all genres—whether professional or not—poets, philosophers, and movement enthusiasts, opened an investigation into the power of description and creation through language, transforming unpredictability into a creative act.
What happened?
Participants were guided through a journey combining improvised movement practices, writing, and interaction with AI models. Through the concept of prompting (stimulus), both body and language become tools for activating creative processes, generating images and texts were reinterpreted into new forms of movement. The goal was to create a continuous feedback loop between human and machine, where unpredictability becomes a source of inspiration.
Key Themes:
What happened?
Participants were guided through a journey combining improvised movement practices, writing, and interaction with AI models. Through the concept of prompting (stimulus), both body and language become tools for activating creative processes, generating images and texts were reinterpreted into new forms of movement. The goal was to create a continuous feedback loop between human and machine, where unpredictability becomes a source of inspiration.
Key Themes:
- Movement and unpredictability: Exploring states of perception and physical improvisation.
- Language as a bridge: Translating bodily experience into words and images.
- Generative technology: Using AI to amplify and reinterpret creative inputs.
- Interdisciplinary reflections: Dialogues on creativity, chance, human intelligence, and the role of randomness in science and society.
PHASE 1 – Guided Creative Flow
Explore unpredictability through movement, writing, and AI generation.
Explore unpredictability through movement, writing, and AI generation.
🔹 WARM-UP : Manuela Bernasconi led a FLOWA training— a movement flow that activates the body, senses, and imagination, guided verbally through words.
🔹 INITIAL INPUT: Movers begin their improvisations based on a central theme: unpredictability—memory lapses, short circuits, falls, embracing external forces, sudden pattern shifts.
During this phase, dancers, movers, and those who enjoy movement take turns on the stage, while writers, poets, and linguists translate movement into words. These texts feed into a creative flow that serves as input for AI-generated images and sounds.
- First cycle (10 min): At least four participants must always be present on the stage.
- Second cycle (10 min): A maximum of three participants can be on the stage at the same time.
- Third cycle (10 min): The space must always be occupied by only one person at a time.
PHASE 2 – Two Perspectives to Open Reflection
During Phase 1, two key themes emerge and are developed through brief interventions:
🔸 Rita Pezzati (psychotherapist) – Insights into body memory, gaps, short circuits, and embracing the unexpected.
🔸 Reflection on AI generation logic by Artur Schmidt, the relationship between body and algorithm, and the creative potential of errors in technology. These interventions are not prepared in advance but arise from the material generated in Phase 1, serving as a starting point for a public and open dialogue.
PHASE 3 – Interaction with AI Material and Living Text / Performance
The space becomes a reactive environment where movers interact with AI-generated images, prompts, and sounds, transmitted in real-time on screens and speakers. A microphone amplifies new textual stimuli, making language an active part of the performative process. The AI materials are pre-processed, but the generation process can continue in real-time, feeding the flow with new textual, sound, and visual creations.
🔸 Reflection on AI generation logic by Artur Schmidt, the relationship between body and algorithm, and the creative potential of errors in technology. These interventions are not prepared in advance but arise from the material generated in Phase 1, serving as a starting point for a public and open dialogue.
PHASE 3 – Interaction with AI Material and Living Text / Performance
The space becomes a reactive environment where movers interact with AI-generated images, prompts, and sounds, transmitted in real-time on screens and speakers. A microphone amplifies new textual stimuli, making language an active part of the performative process. The AI materials are pre-processed, but the generation process can continue in real-time, feeding the flow with new textual, sound, and visual creations.