Designing for Memory

How a World-Premiere Opera Connects AI and Art at Georgia Tech
A performer sits on a white bench while abstract pixelated projections fill the backdrop. Several performers stand in the background.
Wes McRae, Georgia Tech College of Design
Digital projections transform the stage during a rehearsal of Water Memory, reflecting the opera's exploration of memory, cognition, and the evolving relationship between humans and technology.
By Melissa Alonso - June 12, 2026

What happens when memory begins to slip away? 

Not as a sudden disappearance, but as a gradual drifting—like water moving through open hands. 

This June, audiences at Georgia Tech's Ferst Center for the Arts will experience that question through Water Memory (Jala Smriti), a world-premiere chamber opera presented by The Atlanta Opera and Georgia Tech Arts. The production brings together artists, designers, researchers, technologists, and musicians in a deeply human exploration of dementia, family, identity, and the evolving role of artificial intelligence in our lives.

Presented as part of The Atlanta Opera's NOW Festival and during Alzheimer's & Brain Awareness Month, Water Memory examines one of the most universal human experiences: the desire to hold onto memories, relationships, and a sense of self. 

At the center of the story is Janani, a South Asian woman navigating the early stages of dementia. As memories blur and relationships shift, her adult children struggle with the complicated grief of slowly losing a parent who is still physically present. Set within a hydrangea garden and moving between memory and reality, the opera asks audiences to consider how technology might support—not replace—human connection. 

Written by composer Kitty Brazelton and librettist Vaibu Mohan, the work emerged from The Atlanta Opera's 96-Hour Opera Project, where the pair won the Antinori Foundation Grand Prize in 2024. Both creators drew from personal experiences with loved ones affected by dementia, transforming a prompt about artificial intelligence into a deeply human story about caregiving, identity, and remembrance. 

For Georgia Tech's College of Design, the themes explored in Water Memory resonate far beyond the stage. 

Water Memory

A performer seated on a white bench holds a potted hydrangea plant while speaking with another performer. Large hydrangea images are projected behind them.
Wes McRae, Georgia Tech College of Design
Indira Mahajan, who portrays Janani, rehearses a scene surrounded by projected hydrangea imagery. The garden serves as a recurring visual motif throughout Water Memory.
A conductor smiles while standing beside a music stand during rehearsal.
Wes McRae, Georgia Tech College of Design
School of Music faculty member Chaowen Ting conducts musicians during a rehearsal of Water Memory. Ting leads the chamber ensemble for the world-premiere production.
Percussionist TeAiris Majors sits at a workstation with computers, audio software, and electronic music equipment during a rehearsal of Water Memory. Percussion instruments and musicians are visible behind him.
Wes McRae, Georgia Tech College of Design
Percussionist TeAiris Majors integrates live performance, recorded audio, and digital technologies during a rehearsal of Water Memory (Jala Smriti). The world-premiere opera blends chamber music with an immersive electronic soundscape that explores memory, identity, and human connection.
A performer sings onstage during a rehearsal while two other performers stand behind him.
Wes McRae, Georgia Tech College of Design
A performer rehearses a featured vocal passage from Water Memory. The opera explores memory and human connection through a blend of live performance, storytelling, and immersive technology.
Three performers stand onstage holding hands during a rehearsal. One performer stands elevated on a bench while the others stand beside them.
Wes McRae, Georgia Tech College of Design
Performers rehearse a scene from Water Memory a world-premiere opera presented by The Atlanta Opera and Georgia Tech Arts

The production sits at the intersection of many questions that designers confront every day. How can emerging technologies support dignity and independence? How can systems be designed to foster empathy rather than distance? And how can creativity help society navigate complex challenges such as aging, caregiving, and cognitive decline? 

The answers emerge through collaboration. 

Across Georgia Tech, researchers and practitioners from the School of Music, the Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation (CIDI), Human-Centered Computing, and the Institute Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society for have contributed perspectives that enrich the broader conversation surrounding the production. That interdisciplinary approach extends into Soft Systems, an immersive exhibition on view in the Ferst Center lobby from June 2–14. Inspired by Water Memory, the exhibition explores memory, accessibility, and connection through multisensory experiences that invite visitors to engage with sound, touch, and space in new ways.

Following the June 14 performance, audience members will have the opportunity to hear directly from artists and Georgia Tech researchers during an on-stage discussion focused on memory, caregiving, accessibility, and technology. Together, the opera, exhibition, and conversation demonstrate how art and design can create new pathways for understanding complex human experiences. 

In many ways, Water Memory embodies the spirit of Georgia Tech's College of Design: bringing together creativity, research, technology, and human-centered thinking to address challenges that affect communities worldwide. 

Like memory itself, the project moves across disciplines, connecting artists, researchers, designers, and audiences through a shared exploration of what it means to remember—and what it means to care.

Learn about the Music Tech behind the opera

Media Inquiries

 
Ann Hoevel

Director of 
Communications
College of Design
E-mail Ann

Melissa Alonso

Assistant Director of Communications
College of Design
E-mail Melissa