The Human Experience: Emotion in a World of AI

"The Human Experience: Emotion in a World of AI", conceptualized by Ramya Shankar, is an interactive vocal and sonic exploration of emotion as energy in motion. The work moves through lived emotional landscapes such as —anger, rejection, grief, and relationships, joy, realization —each unfolding in discernible stages. For example, before exploring the stages of anger, the audience is invited to sense the initial rise of tension through sound itself. Drawing from raga phrasing and cross-genre influences, the voice becomes a mirror of human behavior, revealing emotion through resonance. Audience participation is integral, encouraging discovery and presence. In an era shaped by AI and optimization, this work re-centers listening, embodiment, and emotional truth.

Artist Biographies

Ramya Shankar

Ramya Shankar is a genre-blurring sound artist and vocalist whose voice flows from deep Carnatic and folk roots of India into jazz and global music. Her voice is a vessel for emotion, healing, and human connection—fusing improvisation, rhythm, and story. As a composer and producer, Ramya crafts immersive sonic landscapes that explore the shared human experience—Love, Grief, Courage, Adventure, Joy—using the voice as a medium to trace emotional stages and reveal the profound textures of human feeling. Her work invites listeners into discovery, presence, and resonance.

Peter Barshay

Peter Barshay is a veteran bassist with a strong reputation built over decades of performing on both the New York City and San Francisco Bay Area jazz scenes. He has collaborated with jazz luminaries such as Kenny Barron, Freddie Hubbard, Sonny Stitt, Kenny Werner, Shirley Horn, Woody Shaw, Pharoah Sanders, Blue Mitchell, Tony Williams, Joe Henderson, Joe Lovano, Johnny Griffin, and Bobby McFerrin. His sound reflects a lifetime of musical exploration—from salsa and straight-ahead jazz to fusion, avant-garde, and music rooted in Afro-Cuban and Brazilian traditions.

Varun Pattabhiraman

Varun Pattabhiraman is a Mridangist based in San Francisco, California. In addition to the mridangam, Varun explores hybrid acoustic and electronic percussion setups that include the khanjira, ghatam, konakkol, drum set and electronic drum pads. He regularly performs concerts in the Bay Area and is a member of fusion groups including the Sufi-Rock band CaliQawwali.

Unpil Baek

Unpil Baek is a pianist, improviser, and composer whose music flows freely across jazz, classical, global, sacred, and experimental traditions. He also performs regularly with Vitamin Em, a chamber jazz collective known for its joyful, genre-bending performances that blend improvisation with classical and world music.

Prasant Radhakrishnan

Prasant Radhakrishnan is a versatile saxophonist steeped in both South Indian Classical (Carnatic) and jazz disciplines. The unique vocal texture of his sound on saxophone, noted for its expressive complexity and rhythmic ingenuity, reflects Prasant’s continued study of tradition, constant innovation, and vast concert experience over the past 23 years.

Zach Mondlick

Zach Mondlick is a Berkeley-based drummer. He received his Masters of Music from Berklee College of Music, where he studied Contemporary Performance and Production. Zach is the music teacher for The Presentations School in Sonoma.