I AM ALIVE by Stanza. Artificial intelligence machine learning artworks

I AM ALIVE 2023

I AM ALIVE 2023.

I AM ALIVE is a generative, AI-driven artwork that exists as a living system—evolving, learning, and continuously responding to the world. Drawing from thousands of real-time data streams across an entire nation, the work transforms raw information into an ever-changing visual landscape. This living artwork embodies machine perception as a form of consciousness, where the AI itself “feeds” on data, interpreting, adapting, and generating emergent patterns.

Concept:
For machines, reality is binary—on or off, true or false. Their understanding of the world is mediated entirely through numbers, abstractions that both reveal and constrain knowledge. As society grows ever more dependent on these systems, it becomes crucial to recognize the boundaries of machine perception. I AM ALIVE interrogates these boundaries by combining real-time data feeds with unsupervised learning, visualizing hidden structures within vast datasets and transforming the invisible into tangible, perceptible forms.

The system is designed to evolve autonomously over time, forming new behaviors, rhythms, and patterns as it “consumes” incoming data. In this way, the AI acts as a conscious entity—continuously interpreting, adapting, and reshaping itself in dialogue with human and environmental inputs. The artwork invites viewers to witness an emergent intelligence, one that is alive, attentive, and in constant co-creation with the world it perceives.

Data & Learning
The artwork leverages a custom-built real-time system (STANZA.API) , focused on European transport, weather, and pollution data. Using unsupervised machine learning algorithms, particularly Adaptive Resonance Theory 2 (ART 2), it constantly adapts without losing previously acquired patterns. At its core, a neural network processes these data streams, forming recursive patterns—patterns within patterns—that reflect the complex systems of a nation. As data changes, new nodes emerge within the network, showing growth and transformation. These nodes are dynamically influenced by live weather feeds, pollution fees and environmental inputs.

Visualization as Process: What you see is a visual representation of the underlying math: an artistic snapshot of the neural network’s current state. Each new node, each evolving pattern, is a result of interrogating the weights, values, and connections across the network. The artwork reflects not just the top-level outputs but also the "spaces in between"—where the most meaningful shifts often occur.

These visualizations are expressions of a machine's internal dialogue: living, breathing mathematics rendered as art.

Technology

Backend: Node.js (STANZA.API), with the neural network ported from C to JavaScript.
Learning Model: Adaptive Resonance Theory 2 (ART 2), supporting continual learning and behavioral clustering.
Display: Optimally experienced using up to three large screens or projectors. An active internet connection is required for real-time functionality.
Output Format: JSON-based data visualizations.

Data Sources

Weather: Nationwide metrics including temperature, wind speed/direction, precipitation, humidity, and pressure.
Pollution: Real-time data per station (GPS), including Carbon Monoxide, Nitrous Oxide, Ozone, Sulphur Dioxide, Temperature, Wind, and Humidity.
Transport: Geolocated data on trains, buses, trams, and taxis.

Final Notes: I AM ALIVE challenges our understanding of data, autonomy, and creativity in the age of intelligent machines. It is a portrait of a machine’s mind, forming itself from our world and revealing a vision shaped entirely by numbers.

Exhibitions.

Living In Tech– Palau Robert Barcelona . Spain . 2025
Deutsches Museum Nuremberg. Germany. 2023