Tone was a part of Japan’s branch of Fluxus in the 1960s and a core member of noise performance groups like Group Ongaku and Team Random. His first performance pieces in the 1980s made use of what he called “wounded CDs,” where he manipulated discs with tape and made recordings of the resulting glitches and mangled noises. With the advent of the MP3 in the late 1990s, his work evolved into purely digital interventions, pioneering techniques for noise artists that followed.
Yasunao Tone and "AI" Deviation
The glitch music pioneer shows the bounds of artificial intelligence aren't limited to visual art.
10/31/2017
Video via Youtube of Tone live at Lausanne Underground Film & Music Festival 2016.
In response to yet another digital shift, his newest work embraces artificial intelligence.His most recent practice of “AI Deviation” involves deviating and controlling AIversions of himself and the mechanisms that each AI uses to hear and generate audio.His AIs are programmed to be self-reflective so that Tone is essentially collaboratingand manipulating older versions of himself in a live setting.