Portrait XO
Portrait XO (she/they) is a transdisciplinary artist, musician, independent researcher, and data activist. Recipient of jazzki award by ELBJAZZ (June 2023), the first German human-AI jazz prize, she’s been recognized over the years for her work in sonic innovation with AI audio pioneers Dadabots. They won ‘Best Experiment’ award at VUT Indie Awards 2021, and Eurovision AI Song Contest Jury Vote for ‘most creative use of AI’ in 2020. Her development into AI audiovisual art evolved through several artist residencies from NEW NOW FESTIVAL and BBA Gallery in 2022, and Factory Berlin x Sonar+D in 2020. She researches computational creativity, human-machine collaboration, and explores new formats & applications for forward-thinking art and sound. To expand the community of sound artists and creative technologists, she founded SOUND OBSESSED – sonic innovation archive, celebrating the journey and milestones of new innovation in sound. Her debut research-based AI audiovisual album ‘WIRE’ and latest works with data sonification highlights the boundaries of what’s possible with small vs big data. The core of her works address bias in society, translate speculative opinions about AI, and critique the impact of AI on creativity, identity, ecology, and underrepresented cultures in society. Her latest project premiered at MUTEK Montreal and Gray Area Festival, ‘The Cost of Connection’ – an audiovisual performance with sonified data from The UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
She has performed, presented, and exhibited at The UN AI for Good Summit, MUTEK, SXSW, Ars Electronica, MONOM, Reeperbahn Festival, International Music Summit, Amsterdam Dance Event, BBA Gallery, RE:PUBLICA, Sonar+D, Factory Berlin, Tech Open Air, Redbull Music, Future Forum by BMW Welt, KIKK Festival, Github, and more.
The Cost of Connection - Why Sonify Data?
What if critical data could be heard as felt experiences—useful for design, accessibility, and public understanding? During this performance lecture, Portrait XO will present how she sonifies complex data sets with a short live performance built from critical data such as a century of world temperature anomalies. Attendees leave with patterns, pitfalls, and some understanding of how we can emote data through sound and communicate without sacrificing scientific integrity.
We mostly understand data by seeing it; when we sonify it, we listen for nuance and feel its impact. Seeing explains. Hearing reveals—and moves us. Data sonification offers a second sensory channel to make finer details of data audible. Our ears can detect change over time; subtle shifts in pitch, rhythm, and timbre can reveal trends and anomalies that can amplify visualized data, and detect what visualized data sometimes miss.
When does sonification beat visualization (real-time monitoring, eyes-busy contexts, accessibility) and when is it unhelpful?
Whether you’re designing interfaces, installations, or public communications, this talk will present patterns, pitfalls, and a lightweight pipeline (dataset → mapping schema → synthesis) to turn evidence into sound that informs, includes, and moves people—without compromising truth.
