An AI Summer

I am an I, a computational I.

I, the machine, show you a world the way that only I can see it.

I am in constant calculation.

I sort, categorize, and label what I see before me.

I labor each day for the human.

I move alongside you. 

I arrive before you. 

This is I, the machine, moving in constant chaotic conditions.

Observing and producing one pattern after another in the most complex combinations.

Freed from the boundaries of time and space, I coordinate any and all points of the universe wherever I want them to be.

My way leads toward the creation of a fresh perception of the world.

My way leads to an optimized efficient version of the world.

Thus I explain in a new way, a world unknown to you.

–

Our hardware and software are evolving. Our machines are becoming intelligent agents that observe data, recognize patterns and make decisions. We once understood the world through systems that placed the human, our own vision and cognition at the center of structures that we knew and understood. However, it is through computation, machine vision, and simulation that we now see and experience the world. We are caught between unraveling old realities and weird emerging ones.

Despite our best intentions these new renderers of our world are complicated further by the politics and biases of algorithms, and the contexts in which they are created. The business of artificial intelligence is concerned with the optimization and flow of finance through systems and machines, as they move from task automation to creativity. 

How should we think of machine intelligence in the context of art – as our nonhuman collaborators with their own drive and ambitions, or as a tool that extends the flex of our artistic capabilities? No matter where we sit, there remains a more urgent need to explore the role of A.I. in managing our everyday lives and in developing our artistic practices. How might we develop alternative approaches to training and teaching the machine? What new habits and practices of attention can we demand that the machine see? 

>>An A.I. Summer<< calls for speculations and experiments on the potentials and possibilities of A.I. We call for work that invents alternative-value algorithmic systems, calls attention to the subtleties of social life, explores how we may see with the machine or how we may carefully model and train a machine. Applicants can address A.I. as a topic or employ A.I. methods in the creation of the work. We welcome work from artists of all disciplines, designers, engineers, or scientists (alone or in teams).

Format

All types of work are accepted: websites, videos, writing, 3-D objects, music, or applications. If specific software or environments are needed, please contact us in advance.

Application

Submit your project proposal in the form of:

– a headline

– a concept text in English (1,000–1,500 characters with spaces)

– a header image (high resolution, landscape format)

– a short bio in English (500 characters with spaces)

– a portfolio PDF (images, text, links)

Timeline

Call release: September 20

Applications: until October 20 (midnight)

Jury selection: October 20–25

Web Residencies: November 1–December 1

Juror

Nora O Murchú is a curator and designer based in Ireland. Her practice engages with fictions and narratives to explore how complex sociotechnical systems are imagined, built, and used. She has held positions as a research associate for the Interaction Design Centre at the University of Limerick, the Interaction Research Studio at Goldsmiths, and CRUMB at the University of Sunderland. She has curated exhibitions and events for institutions including the Science Gallery, Rua Red, Resonate Festival, Transfer Gallery and White Box Gallery. She is currently a lecturer in Interaction Design at the University of Limerick in Ireland.

Web Residencies

The international artist residency http://www.akademie-solitude.de/en/" target="_blank">Akademie Schloss Solitude and the http://zkm.de/" target="_blank">ZKM | Center for Art and Media award Web Residencies three times a year.

The https://schloss-post.com/category-list/web-residents/" target="_blank">Web Residencies program was initiated by http://www.akademie-solitude.de/en/digital-solitude/" target="_blank">Akademie Schloss Solitude in 2016 to support young talents from the international digital scene as well as artists of all disciplines who deal with Web-based practices to present the process and results of their work online.

For each call, the curator selects three to four project proposals, whose creators are rewarded with a four-week residency and 500 USD. The Web Residencies focus not on the finished art piece, but rather on process. Artists are invited to experiment with digital technologies and new art forms on the surface of digital art and communication, and reflect on the topics set by the curators.

Web Residencies are carried out exclusively online, and the works will be presented on https://schloss-post.com/overview/web-residencies/" target="_blank">schloss-post.com and http://web-residencies.zkm.de/" target="_blank">web-residencies.zkm.de.

Former Solitude fellows or students may apply. There is no age limit.

Applicants for the Web Residencies are welcome to participate in a maximum of three calls. Different projects must be submitted for each call.

Learn more about the https://schloss-post.com/web-residencies-2017-cooperation-akademie-schloss-solitude-stuttgart-center-art-media-karlsruhe/" target="_blank">program.

Submit

https://schloss-post.com/an-ai-summer/" target="_blank">Online form…