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ISE keynote Quayola sits down with LIVE

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An acclaimed artist across multiple disciplines, Quayola utilises custom software and the latest audio-visual technology to deliver incredible immersive installations, AV performances, robotically aided sculptures and animated landscapes. Ahead of his Creative Keynote and the presentation of Arborescent and Promenade – two major works – at this year’s ISE, the Rome-born artist spoke to LIVE about his hybrid approach to artistic creation, projection mapping’s evolution and reservations on the use of AI in art.


Interview David Davies




You’re going to be very much in evidence at ISE 2025. What can you tell us about the two projects you’re going to present at the show?


Both of these works belong to the same set of research and thematics I’ve been exploring over the last few years, which relate to traditional landscape paintings in that they’re somehow observing nature as a vehicle for discovering new aesthetics. So both pieces deal with different types of observations and natural phenomena.


In Promenade, there’s a piece related to a specific landscape in Switzerland, which draws on data that was captured in the mountains using different types of drones and LiDAR scanners. With Arborescent, it’s been quite a different process, although we developed various computer-generated, botanical, tree-like structures, and the work really revolves around those simulations.

In my work, I’m generally interested in the idea of how machines see the work and employing machines to carry out the observations. It’s like putting myself in the shoes of an impressionist painter who would go out and try to capture a specific phenomenon, behaviour or lighting condition – but doing it with a very different technological apparatus.


I’m also fascinated, not only in the ability of machines to observe the world, but in their limitations, so the errors that arise can be part of the work. You could almost say that the process of creating the art is part of the work itself, or that the work documents the process.



With Arborescent being mapped onto Casa Batlló, one of architect and designer Antoni Gaudí’s great masterpieces, you clearly have a site of massive cultural and historical significance as a backdrop. What kind of collaboration with site custodians and technical partners does a project like this require?


Besides the idea of observing nature, there’s always an underlying theme in the work about interacting with the historical tradition. That’s explored in various ways, but at the core of what I do is the relationship between past, present and future – heritage and the new form of ultra-contemporary languages. 


I believe that is a key reason I was invited to work on such a heritage site in the first place. This is coupled with the idea of forms, processes and behaviours being inspired by nature, which is very much related to Casa Batlló’s design. As the premise was already quite aligned with the context, they gave me quite a carte blanche.


For the projection mapping, Casa Batlló fits almost perfectly within a 6:9 ratio, with some letterboxing coming out of the sides. So it’s not just dealing with the house, but also a few things that bleed outside the edges of it, which is actually a nice, interesting touch. 


In terms of equipment, I’m usually quite heavily involved in the technical and physical manifestation of projects because it’s a crucial component.


In this case, it wasn’t just the projection equipment we needed to discuss – there were also plenty of conversations about creating a suitable lighting condition. There was a question about how many lights we would be able to turn off from the street to avoid spillage, and there are some additional lights we’re installing to complement the projection.

The company involved in the projection mapping provided a lot of feedback about what might result in a better image on the facade, so there has been a bit of back and forth about that.


You are also providing a musical element for Arborescent, as you have for many other projects. How do you approach this component?


My music here is conceptually related to the idea of emulating some historical, acoustic traditions with algorithmic and other sorts of aesthetics and logics. I’ve been using a physical modelling system to generate guitar and string-style sounds, which have been sequenced using algorithmic strategies developed within my software. I really like this idea of having something familiar, rooted in a tradition, but which is then driven by a completely different kind of logic.


The interaction between sound and image has always been an important part of my work. As well as being a musician myself and exploring that side of things, I’ve done an extensive range of collaborations with classical pianists and orchestras and some more experimental projects with a variety of electronic musicians. Each collaboration tends to be quite unique.


On one hand, I’m fascinated by the idea of working out how to visualise an existing composition, as if the subject of my work is the music itself. On the other hand, I think a sweet spot occurs where you’re able to create some interchange between these two worlds, and can bounce from one to the other.


If the musician is able and open to work on the music as a response to the visual inputs, and vice versa, then this is where it all becomes much more interesting for me.




How do you view your relationship to previous artistic traditions, including those in Rome, where you were born and lived until you were 19?


Growing up, this heritage is something that you simply Iive with, and in one way or another it’s constantly influencing you. It was only when I moved to London, where I lived for almost 20 years (before returning to Rome), that I began to look back on those traditions with a different pair of eyes.


The detachment that resulted from this is a key part of what I explore in my work; it involves looking at things, that might appear incredibly familiar with a very different view.


Certain pictorial traditions and thematics provide the inspiration, but almost as a point of departure to create something else. This can mean returning to universal themes – as I mentioned – but with different apparatus, so you can look at them from fresh angles.

This relationship with the past is really important to me, and I feel that looking back and comparing different times and languages can be a way to discuss and reflect on our times.


One of the most important issues facing creatives in the present is AI. Based on earlier interviews I’ve read, would it be fair to say that you think the value of AI in art resides primarily in analysis and data extraction?


That was more a comment on how I personally use some of these machine learning (ML) systems to look at patterns and extrapolate information. I’m not that fascinated by image synthesis used in AI models, and in fact I don’t use it much in my own work.


As someone who is used to creating images, I feel that extensive use of AI models for image generation is closer to simply searching for an image. While that’s fine for some people, I personally don’t find it as engaging.


So while I use some ML processes in parts of my work, I believe that the more personal the process by which you generate something, the more unique – and the more you – that work will be.


From my perspective, it’s crucial that anything I create is very much an expression of who I am. When you begin relying on and outsourcing that to models that have been made on the other side of the planet – especially if you have no idea how they work – it becomes more difficult to claim that the artwork is truly yours.


I should say that I have also been fascinated by new technology and still have a ‘mega-techno-optimist’ outlook. At the same time, though, I feel it’s part of our role to apply the brakes and reflect on what, ultimately, we want to use this technology for.


It’s a fine line, and over the next few years there’s going to be increasingly prominent – and crucial – conversations about our role in how technology works and is used. From my perspective, it’s not about developing systems that are completely autonomous, rather it’s about systems that empower us to generate new things. So there’s a lot of thinking to be done to find the balance between man and machine.


I would also add that, as an artist who has been doing this throughout their lifetime, and for whom technology is a significant aspect, I also tend to be slower to embrace things because I don’t want to be overwhelmed by the tech. Sometimes I do consciously apply the brakes within my processes.


In addition to your two artistic works, you’re also giving a Creative Keynote at ISE 2025. To what extent was the show – and the wider world of pro AV – already on your radar? Are you looking forward to finding out more about the latest innovations in, for example, projection mapping?


I haven’t previously attended ISE, although I have become aware of the show and many other aspects of the audio-visual industry.


The space in which I operate is that kind of hybrid, which is a bit closer to contemporary art, but at the same time employs a heavy use of technology. I also experiment a great deal with new technology, belonging to a variety of industries, so I’m certainly aware of what’s going on in pro AV. In terms of projection, LED displays and so on, it’s really unbelievable the evolution that has taken place, and the huge impact of this new technology.


In my work, there’s the idea of digital becoming almost a physical experience through these projection and display systems, so their quality is a crucial component for optimising the intended impact of the experience. Now, we are reaching that stage in the development of the technology where the quality is so high that you can start to relate to and manipulate video like a sculptural form, which I find extremely interesting, and is something that is crucial with respect to my own work.




Finally, what else is on the horizon for you in 2025?


Throughout the last ten years or so, I’ve been exploring sculpture a lot, which includes the use of industrial robots that I programme to help carve sculptures.


At the moment, I’m working on some projects that use lava stone – these are boulders that resulted from some old eruptions – and scan their geometries. Then, through modifying and robotically re-milling portions of these objects, you can achieve another way of observing these kinds of natural artefacts and phenomena that is unique.


Sculpture is one of my main interests, which runs in parallel to my audio-visual works, so there are a number of projects coming up in that area. 



For more information on Quayola’s participation in ISE 2025, please visit iseurope.org/news/multimedia-artist-quayola-give-creative-keynote-performances-casa-batllo-fira


For more on the artist’s past and current projects, go to quayola.com

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