Sensing the Synthetic - Discussion

Authors: Alexa Steinbrück, Martina Šimkovičová, Alina Matějová & Lenka Hámošová

https://www.uroboros.design/events/sensing-the-synthetic-discussion/

Today’s creative applications of generative neural networks foreshadow the impact of AI on human imagination and creativity but also many problematic ethical implications. Synthetic media have been around for too short a time for their impact on society and our perception of information and, more generally, of the nature of this new reality to become apparent. But to consider their impact in purely theoretical terms precludes other perspectives and forms of intelligence. Synthetic media need to be experienced ‘first-hand’, perceived with the whole body. Unlike artificial intelligence, our neural networks are influenced by our physicality and emotions. How to acknowledge our bodily situatedness while having a creative dialogue with AI? In what ways can we create a reciprocal relationship between us and AI so that AI takes good care of us and we take good care of it?

About the authors

Alexa Steinbrück - is a software developer and artist interested in language and computation. She has been running a lab for artificial intelligence & robotics at University of Art and Design Burg Giebichenstein in Germany during the last 2,5 years. She is researching and teaching creative AI practices and demystifying AI with aimyths.org and betterimagesofai.org. She's the co-host of "towards co-creation" podcast where she speaks with creatives on how they integrate machine learning in their creative practices.

Martina Šimkovičová - is an artist, photographer, independent researcher. Interested in subtle perspectives of human life. Co-founder and adventurer at Robota - Center for Advanced Studies.

Alina Matějová aka Alina Random - is a freelance graphic designer, dancer, artificial intelligence enthusiast and organizer of the HUMAIN project, which focuses on the intersection of design, art, humanities and artificial intelligence. Among other things, she is a graduate of Interactive Media Theory at Masaryk University and the Graphic Design Studio 2 at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Brno University of Technology, where she is currently working on her PhD, which explores artificial intelligence as an artifact of visual culture.

Lenka Hámošová - is the curator and co-organiser of the Uroboros festival. Her artistic and research practice focuses on the future implications of AI-driven media synthesis and explores how co-creation with AI can empower human imagination. She is currently pursuing his PhD studies at the Film and Television Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU). She combines artistic research with participatory workshops and visual research methods. Through workshops she engages artists, designers, theorists and computer scientists in interdisciplinary dialogue and speculative brainstorming. She initiated the participatory project Collective Vision of Synthetic Reality, which includes an educational deck of cards with categorized AI/ML models used in the production of synthetic media. Lenka has a background in visual communication and critical design and received her Master of Design from the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam in 2014.

Uroboros Festival 2022: https://www.uroboros.design/