Alex Cohen

Practice

My practice spans experimental music, performance, electronic instrument design, and critical media. Recent work uses satire, synthetic media, and generative systems to examine AI and technological authority, while earlier projects developed through improvisation, electroacoustic performance, wearable instruments, and long-term collaborations with dancers and musicians.

Critical Media Practice

Accountability as a Service

A satirical critical-media project examining automated accountability and the performance of ethical responsibility through interactive AI systems.

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An Eye for AI

A pre-rendered satirical deepfake panel in which I moderate three AI academics and thought leaders discussing the future of technology and human potential.

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Dysgenicos Vorat

A satirical synthetic-media project developed through an EMPAC residency as part of my practice-based research on the public performance of AI ethics.

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Sacral Data

A performance and installation project using rapid deepfake generation from sparse input data to examine biodata extraction and the treatment of personal data as technical material.

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Performance & Sound

Improvised music has been a continuous part of my practice, encompassing small ensembles, large-group improvisation, electroacoustic performance, and collaborative work with dancers and musicians. This work also informs my approach to interaction, performance systems, and experimental media.

Khora

Collaborative performance with Driven Arts Collective combining movement, wearable electronic instruments, and live electroacoustic systems.

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Tselem

A mediated ritual performance developed for NIME using the CrackleMask wearable instrument.

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The Son of Life Praised

A ritual performance developed at Mills College around voice, electronics, ritual movement, and Abraham Abulafia's practices of systematic letter combination.

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The Best Is Yet to Come

A telematic electroacoustic collaboration with Seiyoung Jang combining improvised music, CrackleMask, and sampled recordings.

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CELSO

A collaborative performance project repurposing biosensing and surveillance technologies through sound, light, movement, and collective interaction.

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Selected Improvised Performances

Selected performances and collaborations documenting my work in improvised music across different instruments, ensembles, and performance settings.

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Instruments & Systems

CrackleMask

A wireless wearable electronic instrument using a custom analog circuit, touch, and the performer's oral cavity as part of the instrument interface.

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BodyOsc

A wearable electronic instrument using the human body as part of a conductive network for interacting with multiple analog oscillators, developed for collaborative performance with dancers.

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Two-Voiced Gesture-Controlled Electrolarynx

An experimental wearable vocal instrument using two neck-coupled transducers and infrared gesture control to produce two independently controlled voices.

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