[Commlist] Call for Proposals: International Conference on Artificial Atmospheres and Unexpected Media: Exploring Media Art and Machine Learning

Call for Proposals: International Conference on Artificial Atmospheres 
and Unexpected Media: Exploring Media Art and Machine Learning

Date: October 16th – 17th, 2024

Submission deadline: June 10th, 2024.

Location:  NOVA University of Lisbon, Portugal


Technology shapes our sensory experiences and extends our cognitive and 
bodily capabilities. Its pervasive influence coupled with the 
ever-expanding reach of artificial intelligence across diverse facets of 
society underscores the urgent need for comprehensive exploration, 
experimentation, and discussion. Machine learning advancements, while 
offering unprecedented tools and opportunities, also raises profound 
ethical dilemmas, blurring the boundaries between reality and 
artificiality. It is urgent that this technology be explored and 
experimented with and discussed from various angles.

This conference seeks to explore the intricate relationship between 
artistic expression and emerging media technologies, particularly 
focusing on machine learning and virtual environments. By scrutinizing 
this alliance, our aim is to unpack the myriad challenges and novel 
responses it presents to contemporary issues spanning ethical, social, 
political, and economic domains. The rapid evolution of Artificial 
Intelligence elicits a spectrum of reactions, ranging from utopian 
optimism to dystopian apprehension. Generative AI programs can be a 
useful tool for the artist, and simultaneously a threat to creative 
careers. Algorithmic technologies have the potential for AI models to 
generate creative content, or for creative users to generate 
“collaborations” with machines, such as transhumanist art, reflecting 
the ideas of Marshall McLuhan that technology is extending human bodies, 
reflecting a proactive vision of the future while attempting to address 
both the positive and negative impacts on society. We aim to delve into 
the creative intersections of media art, immersive technologies and 
virtual environments, and machine learning through the creative lens of 
the artist.

What virtues might survive or thrive in our art worlds through these 
changes?

What virtues may be retained and strengthened through artistic 
interventions and explorations of these changes?


We invite submissions of abstracts for 20-minute presentations and 
practice-based projects on diverse topics encapsulated by our 
overarching theme of "Artificial Atmospheres and Unexpected Media." 
Potential areas of exploration include:


-Collaborating with machines and the nature of consciousness
-AI, Art, and Archives
-Transhumanism and creativity
-AI as a creator and disrupter
-Ethics of AI usage, potentials to help or harm, transparency, bias, and 
fairness
-AI aesthetics and the uncanny
-Interactive and Immersive Art and Technology
-Robotics and Kinetic Art with AI
-Data driven and sonification
-Technology and the future of human agency in creativity
-Creative technology and utopia/dystopia
-Cyborg theories and science fiction predictions
-Weaponization and creation with machine learning
-Poetics and Prompting
-Unexpected Media
-Machine collaboration


We welcome submissions from academics, researchers, and artists. 
Creative practitioners are encouraged to submit works using machine 
learning and new media, as well as those involved in AI production or 
utilization. Selected works will be showcased, along with papers, at the 
conference.

Proposals will be accepted until June 10th, 2024.

Please send us a 250-word abstract, along with a 150-word bio and 5 
keywords, to the following email: (artificialatmospheresconf /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(artificialatmospheresconf /at/ gmail.com)>

For further information: 
https://ifilnova.pt/en/artificial-atmospheres-and-unexpected-media-exploring-media-art-and-machine-learning/?ano=&laboratorio=&categoria=&serie= 
<https://ifilnova.pt/en/artificial-atmospheres-and-unexpected-media-exploring-media-art-and-machine-learning/?ano=&laboratorio=&categoria=&serie=>

Registration fee: 50 euros (standard rate).
The primary conference languages are Portuguese and English, but other 
languages can be possible; please contact us about this. Sliding scale 
registration fees can be possible, please contact explaining your 
situation (ex: student, etc.).

Conference organizers: Patrícia Castello Branco (CineLab - IFILNOVA); 
Maile Colbert  (CineLab -IFILNOVA)


About IFILNOVA-CineLab’s working group in Art and Technology:

The Art and Technology working group focuses on exploring the 
relationships between artistic practices and the development of new 
technologies. Its main aim is to critically analyze, assess and discuss 
the ways the alliance between art and technology poses new challenges 
and offers new ways to respond to contemporary issues related to social, 
political, and economic paradigms, such as social justice, ecological 
sustainability, and economic development.


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