art+science 2021: AI Realities

This autumn, the sixth art+science program of the Center for Promotion of Science brings new and exciting content inspired by AI, at locations in Belgrade and Novi Sad, and on Monday, June 7, prior to the event, the initiation of the virtual platform artandscience.rs will take place. This platform shall encompass all the activities of the Center with regards to mergers of science and art, as well as news, events and open calls on a national, European and global level.

Throughout September and October, the Center for Promotion of Science will, through its art+science program, present a wide range of works created through interdisciplinary cooperation of artists, scientists and other participants. The central part of the event will take place from September 23 until October 23 at the Museum of Science and Technology in Belgrade as well as the Gallery of the Cervantes Institute, the Science Club of the Center for Promotion of Science as well as other locations. In addition to exhibition of complex, challenging and often uniquely conceptualized works, the audience will be invited to join the numerous educational, accompanying programs.

VIRTUAL art+science PLATFORM

Parallel with the development of new works and the preparations of the great art+science manifestation, the Center has set-up and initiated the virtual art+science platform, as a permanent meeting point, a location for exchange of information and a cross-section of news on the local and international scene. On the website artandscience.rs, one may find, as of June 7, all the information on the Center’s activities with regards to art and science mergers, as well as news, events and open calls on a national, European and global level.

AI Realities

Program of the sixth edition of the art+science annual event is based on critical and creative consideration, reading and interpretation of the values, systems and possibilities of artificial intelligence as a dominant super-technology of today, AI undoubtedly colors our lives, and impacts more and more the environment we are in, and the decisions we make. Thousands of researchers all over the world are engaged in its development, analysis and application, while guiding knowledge from highly heterogeneous disciplines and fields – cognitive and neuroscience, mathematics, linguistics, robotics, machine learning etc. – towards creating a new technological reality. With these aspirations and accelerated content hyperproduction, many key questions and topics have been overlooked or abstracted, leaving their interpretation to those who are willing for a deeper, open and unrestrained dialogue.

WINNER OF THE NATIONAL SELECTION

The winning work of the national AI selection for 2021 is BINEMA, a long-term project of study of modern dance as a phenomenon within a scientific context, by choreographer Marko Milic. The work is currently in development in collaboration with science mentors from the Clean Cadet project - financed through the first AI project of the Science Fund – Dr. Jelena Slivka and Dr. Nikola Luburic, from the Faculty of Technical Sciences of the University of Novi Sad. As a new iteration of Milic’s BINEMA project, this work has the tendency to bring closer the two seemingly distanced worlds and it seeks to find points of merger and connection. In addition to the production of the winning work of the national AI Lab selection, this year, unique scientific-art research shall also be presented, based on a series of meetings, workshops and joint brainstorm sessions of scientists and artists, which has led to the creation of a new interdisciplinary team. The topic of the research and of the intervention of the participants from the Academy of Arts and participants from the Faculty of Sciences in Novi Sad is processing and catalytic presentation of a large data base of anthropogenous pollution of the Danube and the contribution that we all, as individuals, (un)consciously make via our daily actions.
Pored produkcije pobedničkog rada nacionalne AI Lab selekcije, ove godine će biti predstavljeno i jedinstveno naučno-umetničko istraživanje zasnovano na nizu susreta, radionica i zajedničkih promišljanja naučnika i umetnika, koje je dovelo do nastanka sasvim novog interdisciplinarnog tima. Tema istraživanja i intervencije aktera sa Akademije umetnosti i Prirodno-matematičkog fakulteta u Novom Sadu jeste obrada i katalitičko predstavljanje velike baze podataka antropogenog zagađenja Dunava i doprinosa koji svi mi, kao pojedinci, (ne)svesno činimo svojim svakodnevnim postupcima.

COLLABORATION WITH THE ARS ELECTRONIKA FESTIVAL

A joint virtual program is also in preparation with Ars Electronika from Linz, the most significant global point with regards to interdisciplinary intersection of science, art and new technologies. This year as well, the Ars Electronika festival will predominantly be realized within a virtual space, connecting numerous world locations and participants from September 9 to September 13. As long-term partners and associates, the Center shall once again present itself to the audience of the Festival, through its Ars Electronica Garden Belgrade.

ON THE PROJECT OF EUROPEAN AI LAB

This year’s, sixth edition of the art+science event is part of the Center's program activities within the European ARTificial Intelligence Lab (AI Lab) project, funded through the EU's Creative Europe program. AI Lab gathers 13 diverse institutions dealing with the connections between art, technology and society. By starting dialogue and initiating interdisciplinary cooperation, numerous topics are touched upon that are generated by artificial intelligence and which analyze a future based on this super-technology. The project does not dwell on technological aspects, but primarily takes into account and interprets the cultural, philosophical, ethical, psychological and spiritual aspects of the changes that AI undoubtedly brings. At the same time, the art+science program was recognized through the National Smart Specialization Strategy (4S), as an experimental combination of science and art, for the implementation and evaluation of which the Center for the Promotion of Science is in charge.