DAI – Dancing Artificial Intelligence –

Jonathan O’Hear, Martin Rautenstrauch, Timothy O’Hear, brothers, longtime friends are reunited here for this unique project that just happens to require their particular skill sets.
Martin and Jonathan have been working together on various projects over the years ranging from scenography to plastic art and have enjoyed many late night discussion about building a robot together (or many robots depending on how late it got and how merry they were) and Timothy has been trying to get them to do a project on AI for the past few years… So the DAI project was born.
Martin trained as a sculptor at the Beaux-Arts of Paris, Tim as an engineer at EPFL and Jonathan as a filmmaker at some random school.
After school, Martin founded the Grand Garage du Nord a fully equipped and versatile workshop that brings art, technology and dialogue together under the same roof. Timothy ended up focusing on the integration of artificial intelligence in companies and takes part in fundamental discussions on the consequences for our society. Jonathan has been busy creating artwork and scenographies .

Jonathan O’Hear
He trained as a filmmaker in Vancouver in the 1980s, and later developed a passion for manipulating light, sound and video in a variety of contexts.
Born in England, he grew up in Switzerland and elsewhere, leading a relatively nomadic lifestyle until 2007. He currently lives in Switzerland, where he has designed numerous lights and scenographies, created shows and art. His work often relies on a mix of technology, light, and organic interference.
Between 2013 and 2017 he was the artistic and organisational co-director of the contemporary dance company Neopost Foofwa in Geneva, while continuing to develop his personal work. During this time he was also lucky enough to exhibit his artwork on several occasions. In 2018 he left the dance company to devote himself entirely to his own projects including the ambitious creation of DAI, a performer with artificial intelligence, a joint project with sculptor Martin Rautenstrauch and engineer Timothy O’Hear that saw it’s opening exhibition at the Museum Tinguely in Basel.

Martin Rautenstrauch
He studied at the Beaux-Arts in Paris and graduated with the jury’s congratulations and the sculpture prize.
He then created the Grand Garage du Nord, a fully equipped and versatile workshop that brings art, technology and dialogue together under the same roof. Imagined as an independent space capable of producing his own projects but also of hosting other short term projects it abounds with activities and has enabled numerous local artists and craftsmen to carry out their work. As such, it rapidly became a platform for exchanging artistic and mechanical expertise. Over the years he has used this space to design and produce sculptures, furniture, scenographies and, of course, the DAI project was also conducted in the Grand Garage du Nord.
As a child he would salvage, dismantle and then put back together to understand how it works. He continues…

Timothy O’Hear
During his studies as an EPFL engineer in mechanical engineering, he founded Virtually Unlimited, a company
specialized in 3D technologies for video games and virtual reality.
In 2000 he founded the company Revelate where he developed a business management software, managed software implementation projects and advised on IT management.
In 2014 he discovered social entrepreneurship, which led him to ask himself fundamental questions about the impact of companies on society.
In 2015 the enormous advances in “machine learning” or “artificial intelligence” allowed him to immerse himself in a total convergence of computing, human beings and society. He then followed courses at Stanford, MIT and Caltech and developed his first neural networks.
Today he focuses on the integration of artificial intelligence in companies and takes part in fundamental discussions on the consequences for our society.
To relax, Tim programs Lego robots with his children and gets lost in contemporary art.