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NECS Online Lecture Series 1/5:  Artificial Aesthetics

NECS Online Lecture Series 1/5: Artificial Aesthetics

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Tuesday, 08 February 2022

Zoom

  • Tuesday, 08 February 2022 | Zoom

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NECS is co-hosting its second Online Lecture Series in 2022, on the topic of the impact of AI on contemporary visual culture and artistic practices.

The Online Lecture Series is co-organized by Antonio Somaini (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris) together with Alexandra Anikina (London South Bank University, currently Balzan Postdoctoral Fellow within the research project “Aesthetics in the Present”). It is supported by NECS and by 2019 Prix Balzan, of which Jacques Aumont was the recipient.

The series consists of five lectures that will take place on Zoom between February and May, starting on Tuesday, February 8th, 2022. The Online Lecture Series is...
NECS is co-hosting its second Online Lecture Series in 2022, on the topic of the impact of AI on contemporary visual culture and artistic practices.

The Online Lecture Series is co-organized by Antonio Somaini (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris) together with Alexandra Anikina (London South Bank University, currently Balzan Postdoctoral Fellow within the research project “Aesthetics in the Present”). It is supported by NECS and by 2019 Prix Balzan, of which Jacques Aumont was the recipient.

The series consists of five lectures that will take place on Zoom between February and May, starting on Tuesday, February 8th, 2022. The Online Lecture Series is open to the public and will be accessible by registration.

“Artificial Aesthetics,” by Emanuele Arielli (IUAV University in Venice)

Since the beginning of the 21st century, data analysis, machine learning, neural networks, and so-called artificial intelligence (AI) have all gradually entered the aesthetic realm from multiple sides. Firstly, a consistent part of our everyday interaction with art and aesthetic artefacts occurs through digital media, our preferences and choices are systematically tracked and predicted by algorithms that feed us back tailored recommendations and content. In addition to that, computational approaches make it increasingly possible to analyze huge amounts of data and extract patterns from cultural archives, allowing us to see features or connections in texts, images and artifacts that were previously undetected, sometimes bringing a previously hidden “data unconscious” into light. Furthermore, AI is now widely used to generate new synthetic artifacts, including artworks, music, designs, and texts. On this issue, views differ between those who see the machine as a potential opponent competing with human capabilities, and those who interpret this technological evolution as integration and extension of human potentialities. In this latter sense, AI and machine learning could be seen as the manifestation of an extended aesthetic mind. This gives rise to questions about traditional concepts like creativity, authorship, artworks, but also about our understanding of human agency, the role of machines in the shaping of our perception and sensitivity, and their role as projection surface of human anxieties and desires.

Emanuele Arielli is Professor of Philosophy and Aesthetics at the IUAV University in Venice. His research interests include the connection between aesthetics, communication theory, cognition, and the philosophy of mind. He was a Research Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and member of Innovationszentrum Wissensforschung at the Technical University Berlin. Previously, he taught at IULM University, Milan, at the University of Chieti, Italy, and at the Technical University in Berlin, Germany.

The Lecture will take place on Zoom, on February 8, 2022, at 18:00 CET
The registration is needed.

Information about the lecture and registration link :
https://necs.org/.../online-lecture.../emanuele-arielli/

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