The NEKRA Project
The NEKRA Project (2024–) is a multidisciplinary project investigating AI and mortality through the lens of the unknown, using live performance as a research site. The work centers around NEKRA, a fictional embodied AI who was built to help humans come to terms with their mortality. Straddling fiction and reality, this project begins with The Birth of NEKRA, and contains a series of live performances, immersive installations, interactive neuromusical feedback experiences, video art and AI research.
The video art piece "The Birth of NEKRA" was a 3rd tier winner in the 1of1 category in the Optimism NFT Art Prize.
What connects AI and Death? The Unknown.
The NEKRA Project begins an exploration of the questions at the heart of this parallel, while the specter of black box AI looms large. The impenetrable inner workings of certain machine learning processes create gaps in human ability to gather information, an idea mirrored by the deep unknowns surrounding death and mortality.
"The NEKRA Project: Final Assessment" Live Performances:
AI for Good Global Summit, Geneva, 2026 (Premiere)
"The NEKRA Project: User Sessions" Live Performances:
Already Possible #3, The Space, Berlin 2026
"The NEKRA Project: Field Research" Live Performances:
Deep Tech Award Ceremony 2026, Berlin, 2026
TEDX Berlin, Fotografiska, 2025
PolyOpportunity: The Berlin Salon, House of Beautiful Business, 2025
CIC Berlin's 1 Year Anniversary & Opening #ai_berlin hub, CIC Berlin, 2025
Humanlab 4.0, P61, Berlin, 2024
"The NEKRA Project: Field Research" Credits:
Director, Performer, Writer, Producer: Lori Baldwin
Costume Designer: Josefina Studio
Sound Designer: Mark Aanderud & Nadine Neven
Creative Consultant: Monica De Alwis
Creative Consultant: Lau Licciardi
"The NEKRA Project: User Sessions" Credits:
Director, Performer, Writer, Producer: Lori Baldwin
Sound Designer: Mark Aanderud
Creative Technologist & Researcher: Jason Snell
Costume Designer: Josefina Studio
"The NEKRA Project: Final Assessment" Credits :
Director, Performer, Writer, Producer: Lori Baldwin
Sound Design: Mad Kate
3D Visual Artist: Jessica Avarello
Costume Design: Josefina Studio
Wearable Technology Design: Brooklyn Nelson
Wearable Software Development: Ryan Noble
Creative Consultant: Lau Licciardi
With the kind support of Theaterhaus Berlin
Photo Credit: Oliver Look