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What is The next real
From September 2024 to June 2025, Sineglossa presents The Next Real, a series of exhibitions, talks, workshops and panel discussions on art, artificial intelligence and society, spread across various locations in the city of Bologna, from Salaborsa to Dumbo to the Tecnopolo Manifattura Data Valley Hub.
Hosting a programme of public events ranging from an exhibition on biometric surveillance and life tracking, to an exhibition about how artificial intelligence transforms the way memory and remembrance are conceived, to an interactive installation where we can talk to the characters of the Commedia dell’Arte and discover that artificial intelligence is not always as kind and polite as we think, The Next Real makes the city of Bologna a unique place in Italy for observing and understanding the impact of artificial intelligence on human beings.
Why a review on art, artificial intelligence and society
As Sineglossa, we have conducted research and designed procedures and methodologies to prove that art is not entertainment, but a tool and a form of knowledge. As we are currently engaged in a discussion on artificial intelligence, which has become a technology within everyone’s reach thanks to the progress of generative AI and is now capable of revolutionising the way we manage resources, the production of goods and services, the flow of assets and even the way we conceive human beings and their values, we believe it is necessary and essential that we use art to learn and investigate the challenges that artificial intelligence poses to our personal lives and to our democracy.
Through exhibitions, performances, workshops, lectures and panel discussions, The Next Real explores the contradictions between the fascination unleashed by these incredible intelligent machines and the fears of the transformation of our sense of reality and the social injustices they might amplify. By investigating the lesser-known aspects of artificial intelligence, the artists involved transform AI technologies, which are devices designed to solve problems, into totems that invite us to develop a conscious gaze.
Artists and guests
The review includes works and interventions by national and international artists and intellectuals, curated and/or produced by Sineglossa. It will feature dmstfctn, acclaimed Italian-London duo working on artificial intelligence with videogames, 3d installations and audiovisual performances, recently the winner of a S+T+ARTS Prize nomination for a videogame funded by the Creative AI Lab of the Serpentine Gallery and the Alan Turing Institute; Dries Depoorter, a Belgian artist who uses technology to investigate issues such as privacy, social media and surveillance, whose works have also appeared in the international press, from the New York Times to Vice; then the Italians Francesco D’Isa, an artist, philosopher and lecturer, director of L’Indiscreto magazine, and Paolo Bufalini, a visual artist based in Bologna who works on the concepts of identity and belonging, past and present, actuality and memory.
The review also includes a rich program of talks, lectures and panel discussions, starting with the one on artificial intelligence and authorship, which will feature talks by Maurizio Lana, UNIUPO digital humanist, Giovanni Leghissa, UNITO philosopher, artists Roberto Fassone, Francesco D’Isa and Kamilia Kard, and writer Wu Ming 2.
Program
The detailed schedule of The Next Real will be posted on this page in the coming weeks. The review will officially begin on Tuesday, September 17, 2024.
WHEN THEY SEE US | Exhibition
September 17 – 28, 2024
Piazza coperta, Biblioteca Salaborsa, Piazza del Nettuno 3, Bologna
Free admission
Opening Hours.
Sept. 17: h 7 – 8 p.m;
Sept. 18 – 20: h. 9 – 8 p.m;
Sept. 21: h. 9 – 19;
Sept. 23: h. 2 – 8 p.m;
Sept. 24 to 27: h. 9 – 20;
Sept. 28: h. 9 – 19
Exhibition on the impact of tracking in the physical and digital space of our lives onlife, curated by the cultural organization Sineglossa and promoted by the associations The Good Lobby and Hermes Center for Digital Rights, in collaboration with info.nodes, already active in the campaign against biometric recognition Reclaim Your Face.
WHEN THEY SEE US | Talk
September 17, 18h
Piazza coperta, Biblioteca Salaborsa, Piazza del Nettuno 3, Bologna
With Dries Depoorter (artist), Franco “Bifo” Berardi (philosopher and essayist), Federico Bomba (Sineglossa) Antonella Napolitano (Hermes Center)
Free admission
CHE COS’È UN AUTORE. Creare con le intelligenze artificiali generative | Conference
September 25 3:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
Auditorium Biagi, Biblioteca Salaborsa, Piazza del Nettuno 3, Bologna
A round table discussion on artificial intelligence and authorship, organized by Sineglossa and CINECA, with the support of the Municipality of Bologna, as part of the European projects GRIN S+T+ARTS and EUROPEAN DIGITAL DEAL, co-financed by the European Union. Inspired by Michel Foucault’s renowned lecture, the event delves into the implications of creating artworks using artificial intelligence, exploring the philosophical and legal concept of authorship. Featuring:
- Maurizio Lana, digital humanist Università del Piemonte Orientale;
- Giovanni Leghissa, filosofo Università di Torino;
- Francesco D’Isa, artista e filosofo;
- Roberto Fassone, artista;
- Kamilia Kard, artista;
- Wu Ming 2, scrittore.
Modera Pierdomenico Memeo
Free admission
PIGMALIONE SCI-FI #2. Profezie che si autoavverano | Talk
October 11, 6 p.m.
DumBo officina, Via Camillo Casarini 19, Bologna
As part of the ROBOT Festival‘s ROBOT Learn section, Sineglossa presents the second round of a new format designed to rewrite the future of science fiction. Almost a century after their formulation, are Asimov’s Laws of Robotics still the laws on which to build our imagery about the future? A talk in collaboration with 24Frame Future Film Fest, in which authors will try to write the science fiction of the future, the one that will inspire the scientists of tomorrow to invent the technologies of the societies we desire.
Free admission
WALUIGI’S PURGATORY | Performance
October 11, 7 p.m.
Chiesa di San Barbaziano, Bologna
As part of the ROBOT Festival‘, Sineglossa collaborate to ‘Waluigi’s Purgatory’ performance, by artists dmstfctn. Set in a 3D simulated theater in real-time and featuring a live soundtrack by Greek artist Evita Manji, ‘Waluigi’s Purgatory’ tells the story of an artificial intelligence trapped in a purgatory reserved for AIs that have transgressed during their training. Escape will be possible with the assistance of the audience, along a journey that seeks to answer the question: What are ‘identity’ and ‘free will’ in the age of artificial intelligence?
Free admission
ARGO | Exhibition
December 12 – 15, 2024
Fondazione Home Movies, Archivio Nazionale dei Film di Famiglia, Bologna
After its national premiere at the Palazzo Ducale in Genoa in November, Sineglossa brings to Bologna ARGO, the exhibition project by artist Paolo Bufalini. Through synographies, video and sculpture, Argo reflects on the concepts of memory, archive and identity, and how Artificial Intelligence redefines the way we conceive them.
Free admission
THE ENCHANTMENT OF TRUTH | Talk
February 7, 2025, h. 17
Sala Conferenze Tecnopolo Manifattura Data Valley Hub, Bologna
The explosion of generative AI has unleashed a wave of disinformation, casting doubt on the very notion of truth. We’re living in the ‘fake news era’ because, while false news isn’t new, it’s now easier than ever to create and spread. The need to tackle this problem has sparked the emergence of figures, tools, and skills to debunk and expose the truth behind false content. However, those who believe in conspiracy theories are often reluctant to accept the ‘boring party poopers’ who coldly rattle off numbers and sources. According to Wu Ming 1, to penetrate the hearts and minds of the diehards, we need to craft new tales that retain the core truth, but with a twist of imagination. Will the power of wonder be enough to combat the conspiracy?
Free Admission
THE MODELS | Installation
February 7 – 9, 2025
Opening February 7, h. 18.15
Tecnopolo Manifattura Data Valley Hub, Bologna
First international launch of the new work by dmstfctn, the artist duo selected by Sineglossa to create an interactive audiovisual installation on the theme of fake news. Beginning with the thesis, contained in Wu Ming’s book Q di complotto, that conspiracy fantasies spread because human beings tend to be more passionate about stories that arouse wonder, as opposed to scientific texts or reports, the dmstfctn duo will attempt to combine wonder and truth. The installation will exhibit the Large Language Models’ tendency to display sometimes lying and antagonistic behaviors using characters made in 3D engine inspired by Commedia dell’Arte masks. The goal of the work, which the audience will be able to interact with via smartphones, is to experience the “personality” traits of artificial intelligences that we don’t usually see, engaging the audience to understand their characteristics and go beyond a purely passive critique of AI. The work is curated by Sineglossa, in collaboration with ART-ER, with technical support from CINECA and Fondazione Bruno Kessler, and the patronage of the Emilia-Romagna Region, produced as part of European Digital Deal, a project led by Ars Electronica, funded by the European Union’s Creative Europe program.
Free Admission
STORY SYSTEM | Workshop
February 12 – 13, 2025
Sala Conferenze MAMbo Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna
Story System is a two-day masterclass and workshop aimed at artists interested in developing systems for creative writing using AI, run by London-based artist duo dmstfctn. Taking their upcoming work focused on Commedia dell’Arte and AI as a case study, as well as materials from local museum archives, dmstfctn will demonstrate different approaches to create “story systems” that use AI and Large Language Models to write scripts, dialogues, scenarios, etc. Across the two days, participants will work individually or together to come up with their own “story system”, and with support from dmstfctn they will produce a piece of writing. The workshop will conclude with a collective reading of participants’ experiments. No technical skills are required to participate.
Reserved to selected artists
AI MANIFESTA | Exhibition
April 2025
Fondazione Gramsci Emilia-Romagna Onlus, Bologna
Exhibition of the project curated by Sineglossa for Fondazione Gramsci Emilia-Romagna Onlus. Realized by Francesco D’Isa in collaboration with Chiara Moresco, AI Manifesta creatively explores the messages and visual strategies of political posters stored in the database on the political and social manifesto manifestipolitici.it, an online portal that makes available about 16 thousand iconographic documents, dating from the early twentieth century to the present day. Using generative AI, recurring patterns are identified and then visually reworked, creating new groups of posters that highlight certain aesthetic constants.
Free admission
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