Current Fellows

Amitav Acharya

Amitav Acharya

Professor of International Relations; 2019-2020 Berggruen Fellow

S. M. Amadae

S. M. Amadae

University Lecturer in Politics; 2019-2020 Berggruen Fellow at CASBS


Naazneen Barma

Naazneen Barma

Associate Professor of National Security Affairs; 2019-2020 Berggruen Fellow


Jacob Browning

Jacob Browning

Philosopher; 2018-20 Berggruen Fellow


R. Alta Charo

R. Alta Charo

Professor of Law; 2019-2020 Berggruen Fellow at CASBS


David Ciepley

David Ciepley

Political Scientist; 2019-2020 Berggruen Fellow at CASBS


Christina Dunbar-Hester

Christina Dunbar-Hester

Associate Professor of Communication and Journalism; 2019-2020 Berggruen Fellow


Brent Durbin

Brent Durbin

Associate Professor of Government; 2019-2020 Berggruen Fellow


Maya Indira Ganesh

Maya Indira Ganesh

Berggruen Junior Fellow


Misha Glenny

Misha Glenny

Journalist, Historian; 2019-2020 Berggruen Fellow


Michael J. Hiscox

Michael J. Hiscox

Political Scientist; 2019-2020 Berggruen Fellow at CASBS


He Huaihong

He Huaihong

Professor; 2019-2020 Berggruen China Center Fellow


Hao Jingfang

Hao Jingfang

Author, Researcher; 2019-2020 Berggruen China Center Fellow


Gabriel Kahan

Gabriel Kahan

Researcher; 2019-2020 Berggruen Fellow


Aaron Maniam

Aaron Maniam

Researcher; 2019-2020 Berggruen Fellow


Francis Mckay

Francis Mckay

Anthropologist; 2018-2020 Berggruen Fellow


David Platzer

David Platzer

Anthropologist; 2018-2020 Berggruen Fellow


Allison Pugh

Allison Pugh

Sociologist; 2019-2020 Berggruen Fellow


Venkatesh Rao

Venkatesh Rao

Writer, Editor; 2019-2020 Berggruen Fellow


Nicole Rigillo

Nicole Rigillo

Anthropologist; 2018-2020 Berggruen Fellow


Philipp Schmitt

Philipp Schmitt

Artist, Designer, Researcher; 2019-2020 Berggruen Fellow


Wu Tianyue

Wu Tianyue

Professor; 2019-2020 Berggruen China Center Fellow

Laura D. Tyson

Laura D. Tyson

Berggruen Senior Fellow

Yukiko Uchida

Yukiko Uchida

Professor of Psychology; 2019-2020 Berggruen Fellow at CASBS


Yangming Wang

Yangming Wang

Professor of Molecular Medicine; 2019-2020 Berggruen China Center Fellow


Steven Weber

Steven Weber

Political Scientist; 2019-2020 Berggruen Fellow


Julianne Yip

Julianne Yip

Anthropologist; 2018-2020 Berggruen Fellow


Yi Zeng

Yi Zeng

Professor of Brain-inspired Intelligence; 2018-2020 Berggruen China Center Fellow

Please click here to see the Alumni Fellows


composed by Arswain
machine learning consultation by Anna Tskhovrebov
commissioned by the Berggruen Institute
premiered at the Bradbury Building
downtown Los Angeles
april 22, 2022

Human perception of what sounds “beautiful” is necessarily biased and exclusive. If we are to truly expand our hearing apparatus, and thus our notion of beauty, we must not only shed preconceived sonic associations but also invite creative participation from beings non-human and non-living. We must also begin to cede creative control away from ourselves and toward such beings by encouraging them to exercise their own standards of beauty and collaborate with each other.

Movement I: Alarm Call
‘Alarm Call’ is a long-form composition and sound collage that juxtaposes, combines, and manipulates alarm calls from various human, non-human, and non-living beings. Evolutionary biologists understand the alarm call to be an altruistic behavior between species, who, by warning others of danger, place themselves by instinct in a broader system of belonging. The piece poses the question: how might we hear better to broaden and enhance our sense of belonging in the universe? Might we behave more altruistically if we better heed the calls of – and call out to – non-human beings?

Using granular synthesis, biofeedback, and algorithmic modulation, I fold the human alarm call – the siren – into non-human alarm calls, generating novel “inter-being” sonic collaborations with increasing sophistication and complexity. 

Movement II: A.I.-Truism
A synthesizer piece co-written with an AI in the style of Vangelis’s Blade Runner score, to pay homage to the space of the Bradbury Building.

Movement III: Alarmism
A machine learning model “learns” A.I.Truism and recreates Alarm Call, generating an original fusion of the two.

Movement IV: A.I. Call
A machine learning model “learns” Alarm Call and recreates A.I.Truism, generating an original fusion of the two.


RAVE (IRCAM 2021) https://github.com/acids-ircam/RAVE