Zizi & Me

2020 - 2023, multimedia | theatre, performance & video

Ongoing collaboration with Me the Drag Queen

‘Zizi & Me’ is a double act between drag queen Me The Drag Queen, and a deepfake (A.I.) clone of Me The Drag Queen. By training a neural network* on filmed footage this network learnt to construct a virtual body that can be controlled by feeding it new reference movements. The first act 'Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)’ satirizes the idea that an AI is something that we might mistake for a human. Through drag performance, we aim to use cabaret and musical theatre to challenge narratives surrounding A.I. and society.

*Video-to-Video Synthesis (2018)

The Zizi Project (2019 - ongoing) is a collection of works by Jake Elwes exploring the intersection of Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) and drag performance. Drag challenges gender and explores otherness, while A.I. is often mystified as a concept and tool, and is complicit in reproducing social bias. Zizi combines these themes through a deepfake, synthesised drag identity created using machine learning. The project explores what AI can teach us about drag, and what drag can teach us about A.I.

With Edinburgh Futures Institute at University of Edinburgh.