Episode Summary: 30 meters below earth there is a place where time stands still - the Ruinart chalk cellars, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Deep inside it, where once there used to be an ocean, we are confronted by the origin of our existence, returning back to the source. In this episode we are interviewing environmental artists Maya Mouawad and Cyril Laurier, known as Mouawad Laurier duo, on the occasion of their sustainable installation commissioned by Maison Ruinart, Retour Aux Sources, marking the beginning of the 10-year countdown to the 300th anniversary of the champagne house. The artistic project brings data, artificial intelligence and the living world together in an immersive experience, submerging the audience into a visual and sound encounter underground. Maya and Cyril share with us more about the essence of their artistic practice and their work Retour Aux Sources with which they are ''striving to reconnect with our roots, those at our very core.'' We go back to the origin and question the role of technology in art, the interdependence of our eco system and the way we perceive ourselves in relation to nature. Moreover, the collective gives us a hint about their upcoming project Rising, inspired by our concerns about climate change and the raising level of the Ocean, another crucial and defining multilayered body of work for Mouawad Laurier. The Speakers: Mouawad Laurier is the collective name for two artists who work and live together. Maya Mouawad and Cyril Laurier have been collaborating on innovative artistic projects together around the world for many years, working with other artists under the name Hand Coded. They now sign their own work under their real names. In partnership with Pablo Valbuena, they were pioneers of video mapping and have continued along this path, collaborating with leading video mapping artists such as AntiVJ and Romain Tardy. Maya Mouawad is an environmental artist. The aim of her work is to question the place of machines in our modern world: how can these machines affect human behaviour, how can they change the way we perceive ourselves in relation to nature? Her installations often involve the use of new technologies, generative light systems. She has created her own generative light control software. Cyril Laurier is a music composer. He has researched ways to detect emotions in music using machine learning and has published his work in journals, books and conferences. He now applies his knowledge of artificial intelligence to art installations, making sentient machines that question our relationship with technology and nature. Follow Mouawad Laurier's journey on Instagram Hosts: Farah Piriye & Elizabeth Zhivkova, ZEITGEIST19 Foundation Sign up for ZEITGEIST19's newsletter at https://www.zeitgeist19.com For sponsorship enquiries, comments, ideas and collaborations, email us at [email protected] Follow us on Instagram and Twitter Help us to continue our mission and to develop our podcast: Donate