[spectre] Create! Program! Force to Live!

[Annick2]

Dear Friends,

It is my great pleasure to announce the next "Trust Me, I'm 
An Artist" event that is taking place in Prague on November 
19th 2015.

All info below !

Best
Annick

***************************

CREATE! PROGRAM! FORCE TO LIVE!

"Molding the Signifier" by Ivor Diosi
http://cargocollective.com/_ID_/molding-the-signifier-concept-2-0

Organizer: CIANT – International Centre for Art and New 
Technologies
www.ciant.cz in collaboration with Ex Post Cultural Centre 
Prague
Host: Ondřej Cakl (CIANT)

Installation: 16th to 19th November 2015 – "Meet the Artist" 
on the 18th at 20:00

Ethical Committee panel: 19th November 2015, starting at 19:00

Venue: Ex Post, Příčná 1, Praha 1
http://www.expost.space/map/

https://www.facebook.com/events/1501178796849140/

Language: English


"Molding the Signifier" – a complex digital interactive 
installations intertwining organical and digital worlds by 
Ivor Diosi.
It deploys an external biological agent to infiltrate and 
disrupt the body-mind-ecosystems of virtual humans, 
resulting in states that we regular humans can perceive as 
mental illness. A well known game character has been chosen 
to be deconstructed as a virtual human actor, as this is how 
most people today are introduced to and come to know virtual 
entities. This is in effect intended as a social commentary 
on a culture that is hungry for simulated experiences, yet 
is stuck on its own evolutionary conditioning - the problem 
described as the “uncanny valley”.
A contaminated biologic culture (an assortment of growing 
mold species) is continuously monitored and measured for 
data with a digital microscope and a set of bioelectric 
sensors. This real-time input is gradually interspersed into 
the neuronal logic that governs facial recognition (of 
exhibition visitors), and the virtual human 
visualization/simulation, combined with procedural emotion 
expression and speech synthesis.


CREATE! PROGRAM! FORCE TO LIVE!

----------- Shall the scientific ethics restrain the artists 
of experimenting with certain technologies and challenge 
their impact?

Towards the future of the manipulation of organic life and 
artificial intelligence – exhibition and open expert panel 
on ethical issues in science reflected and brought to light 
by art. ----------------


The main ethical struggle incorporated in human dealing with 
technologies is rooted in the very core of our approach 
towards creation of otherness: The human dream of creating 
the higher level of intelligence and higher way of being is 
shattered by simultaneous eagerness to create only in the 
manner of control and exploitation. Technology serves to 
rule the all too human world, but then again it could be the 
medium of getting out of it to something un-human, higher, 
better, artificial. From that point of view the biggest 
danger for artificial intelligence is the chance, that it 
will most likely be created and „brought to life“ by average 
humans. Those who mainly seek, how to use it – as it was 
proved by occidental abuse of… well, of everything on planet 
Earth, so far.
Ethical restrains of stem cells replication, genetic 
manipulations or eugenics could be reduced to a fear of 
harming other being or creature. Yes, we do want to play 
gods and create new life. Yet no, we do not want to face the 
fact of causing the pain by giving life (which is 
inevitable) and we don’t want to take responsibility for 
that. That’s basically why we set ethical rules against some 
procedures or techniques – not to cause pain, which we would 
be responsible for.
After all, what we face in medicine, synthetic biology or 
genetics nowadays is so tight codex of rules, that it often 
prevents effective help ground-breaking research or 
innovation – the vicious circle of protection causes pain in 
order not to risk it.
Now how this works in case of artificial intelligence? 
Because where a rule is, there will always be someone keen 
to break it – if only for curiosity. And what if we let the 
artist show us, what does it mean to create an artificial 
existence base on extrusion of bacteria…? What if he forces 
bacteria to live and grow only in order to feed his digital 
intelligence simulation (with data)? What if he creates 
artificial existence only to let it bitterly wither away in 
solitude of communication breakdown…? – Would you be curious 
to experience it? Would like to talk with it, or rather only 
about it?

CIANT Prague organizes another part of Trust me, I’m an 
Artist series. An expert panel on ethical issues in science 
reflected and brought to light by art. This time about 
ethical consequences of artificial intelligence and 
artificial life creation, computer based communication 
simulations and violence against the nature.
A group of experts will debate the ethical implications of 
the work raised by the new media art installation, and 
consider the implications for art, science and society.

Exhibiting artist: Ivor Diosi
Committee members: Anna Dumitriu (UK, Artist), Bobbie 
Farsides (UK, Brighton and Sussex Medical School), Claudia 
Lastra (UK, The Arts Catalyst), Pavel Stopka (CZ, Charles 
University Prague)

Participants of the panel: Pavel Smetana (CIANT), Prokop 
Bartoníček (CZ, Ex Post), Annick Bureaud (FR, 
Leonardo/Olats), Aleksander Väljamäe (University of Talinn), 
Marc Boonstra (NL, Waag Society), Espen Gangvig (NOR, TEKS)

Host: Ondřej Cakl (CIANT)