Led by Ars Electronica, European Digital Deal is promoted by a network of 13 cultural European organizations, of which Sineglossa is the Italian partner.
Through a myriad of programs running from January 2023 to December 2025, we want to set up a new kind of public forum where cultural institutions, artists, researchers, and educators gather to reflect on what a deal that safeguards democratic values in the digital realm might look like, and the role they can play in shaping it.
Open call for artists
The call for artists launched by the project is open from Sept. 28 to Nov. 30. Sineglossa takes part with the challenge “The Enchantment of Truth”: how can artists challenge misinformation and misinformation by using the charm of stories? Can truth inspire enchantment?
The call for artists offers 12 residencies, including one promoted by Sineglossa in collaboration with Fondazione Bruno Kessler and Cineca Visit Lab, at the Tecnopolo Data Valley Hub in Bologna.
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dmstfctn artist in residence at Bologna Tecnopole
The artist selected by Sineglossa and the Italian jury – Luca Baraldi, Barbara Busi, Ilaria Bonacossa, Antonella Guidazzoli, Maria Chiara Liguori, Wu Ming 2 – is dmstfctn (pronounced “demystification”), a London-based artist duo working with audiovisual performance, games and video installation. Since 2018, their work investigates complex systems through the study of communication networks, capital, information flows, and, more recently, AI.
Among their latest productions are Waluigi’s Purgatory and GOD MODE (ep.1), interactive audiovisual performances exploring AI folklore and the use of simulation in AI training. dmstfctn have performed and exhibited at Berghain, Serpentine, Design Museum, Onassis, Corsica Studios, HKW, Fotomuseum Winterthur, LUMA Arles, ARTER Istanbul and Aksioma among others, and at festivals such as Unsound, CTM, transmediale, Semibreve, Borderline and Impakt.
In 2021, Krisis Publishing published ECHO FX, the artists’ performance about Brexit market manipulation, later also published in Ø: The Book by Flatlines/Hyperdub. In 2019, Mille Pleateaux released Flash Demons, a collection of the artists’ performances focusing on financial market crashes.
dmstfctn were recipient of the 2017 transmediale Flusser artistic residency.
Conference on AI and autorship
On 25 September 2024, Sineglossa and Cineca organised the conference ‘What is an Author. Creating with generative artificial intelligences’ on AI and authorship.
Paraphrasing Michel Foucault’s famous lecture, the event discussed the consequences of the production of works of art through artificial intelligence on the philosophical and legal notion of authorship. With Maurizio Lana, digital humanist from Università del Piemonte Orientale, Giovanni Leghissa, philosopher from Università di Torino, Francesca Lagioia, senior associate professor in Legal Informatics, AI and AI Law and Ethics (University of Bologna), Francesco D’Isa, artist and philosopher, artists Roberto Fassone, Kamilia Kard, and writer Wu Ming 2, with moderation by Pierdomenico Memeo.
Event organised under the patronage of the Municipality of Bologna, realised within the framework of the European projects GRIN S+T+ARTS and EUROPEAN DIGITAL DEAL, co-funded by the European Union.
The audiovisual installation at Bologna Technopole
The Models is the interactive installation developed by London-based duo dmstfctn resulting from the artistic residency at the Tecnopolo Manifattura Data Valley Hub. The installation has premiered at Tecnopolo Manifattura Data Valley Hub in Bologna from 7th to February 9th, as part of ART CITY Bologna 2025 during ARTEFIERA.
Is it possible to fight conspiracy theories with the wonder created by artists? The challenge is inspired by the thesis, contained in Wu Ming’s book Q di complotto, that conspiracy theories spread because human beings tend to be more passionate about awe-inspiring stories than scientific texts or reports. In response to this, dmstfctn decided to combine wonder and truth in an installation featuring a cast of digital theatrical masks rendered in 3D engines, capable of improvising an endless series of theatrical sketches in the style of the Commedia dell’Arte. Guiding them are AI models fine-tuned by the artists using the Leonardo Supercomputer – models that, inspired by Commedia archetypes, embody characters who confabulate, invent truths, repeat conspiracies and make banal or malicious mistakes. Characters that exhibit tendencies observed in Large Language Models to at times be deceitful and adversarial, and other times overly friendly and subservient. Speaking through text-to-audio technology, the masks react to audiences interacting with the work through their smartphones, introducing scenic objects which depict superstitions and conspiracy theories to stimulate the improvisation.
Credits
EUROPEAN DIGITAL DEAL is a project co-funded by the European Union’s Creative Europe program and the Austrian Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture, Civil Service, and Sport.
Partners:
Ars Electronica, Gluon, iMAL, Kersnikova Institute, LABoral, Οnassis Stegi, Pro Progressione, Sineglossa, Braga Media Arts, gnration, The Center for the Promotion of Science (CPN), The Culture Yard, Waag
Zaragoza City of Knowledge Foundation (FZC) / Etopia
The Models (2025) is an interactive installation by dmstfctn, with music by Hero Image and game development support by Jenn Leung, curated and produced by Sineglossa, in collaboration with CINECA and ART-ER, under the patronage of the Emilia-Romagna Region and Fondazione Bruno Kessler.
This project has been co-funded by the European Union’s Creative Europe programme under grant agreement No 101100036. Views and opinions expressed on this page are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) can be held responsible for them.
