The Art of AI: Narratives, Creativities, and Ethics

The workshop “The Art of AI: Narratives, Creativities, and Ethics” will offer critical reflections on artificial intelligence from the Early Modern period to today in visual culture and literature, and examine how these cultural imaginaries have shaped expectations, fears, and understanding of AI over time. It will also consider whether it is necessary to question and revise concepts of ‘creativity’ and reflect on the possibilities and limits of unexpected ‘deviation’ and ‘rupture’. Thus, on the one hand, the discussion will encompass an in-depth exploration of the current capabilities of creative machines, as well as their potential not only to reach but also eventually to surpass human creativity. On the other hand, the pressing philosophical, ethical, and societal questions raised by these advancements shall be addressed. Ultimately, the aim is to better understand the implications of technological advancements and their profound ethical and societal effects in the changing landscape of AI, and its transformation of everyday life.

Programme

18 April 2024

14.30 – 15.00
Welcome and Introduction (Hana Gründler and Rafael Uriarte)

Legends and Worships
Chair: Hana Gründler

15.00 – 15.30
Elizabeth C. Mansfield: Zeuxis and the Aesthetics of AI
15.30 – 16.00
Corina L. Apostol: CULTUS: Unveiling Techno-Religious Devotion and Dissent in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Break

‘Authors’ and ‘Dilettantes’
Chair: Jan Simane

16.30 – 17.00
Margarete Pratschke: Digital Dilettantes

17.00 – 17.30
Grischka Petri: Automats, Authorship and the Challenge of Creativity. An Excursion into the Legal History of Non-Human Aesthetics

17.30 – 18.00 Common Discussion

Break

Standardization and Defamiliarization
Chair: Anna-Maria Meister

18.30 – 19.00
Jens Schröter: Machine Learning, the Creative Process and the Resistant Medium

19.00 – 19.30
Matthias Grund and Lasse Scherffig: Puppy Slugs, Vibes & Visual Alignment

19 April 2024

Algorithms, Imagination, and the Politics of Vision
Chair: Rafael Uriarte 

9.30 – 10.00
Leonardo Impett: The Visual Politics of Neural Networks

10.00 – 10.30
Nuria Rodríguez Ortega: Generative (or/and) Sustainable Culture: Transitioning from Disjunction to Convergence Through Simondon's Lens

10.30 – 11.00 Common Discussion

Break

Body and Creativity in Posthumanism
Chair: Oliver Aas

12.00 – 12.30
Tijen Tunali: The Interplay Between AI Art and Human Creativity in the Era of Posthumanism

12.30 – 13.00
Lisa Moravec: Artificial Bodies: The Performance of Critique, Bodily Intelligence, and Posthumanist Aesthetics

13.00 – 13.30 Final Discussion