Over the last year, text and image creation applications such as ChatGPT or Dall-e, in which the user delegates the act of creation to the AI, have become mainstream all over the world. Millions of artistic works, images, exhibitions, books and even entire newspapers have been recently produced using this apps, which implies a transformation of how human action relates with the artistic authorship.
The great speed of this transformation leads the creative sector to deep doubts, fears and questions: are these applications truly creative? How should we react to this new reality? What is the new position of the professional art towards an automation process that threatens its own survival?
The questions surrounding the deployment of AI as a creative agent are existential, but also social, political and economic. And all these become urgent for the speed and absence of regulation in which this transformation is taking place. Should we call for limits? Do we need to reach agreements so that the artistic and technological sectors can advance along parallel paths without hindering each other?
Santa Mònica Arts Centre in Barcelona has scheduled an intensive workshop to address all these urgent issues. On December 1st, 2023, international specialists will meet and publicly present their ideas for the drafting of a cultural manifesto aimed at people responsible for developments in AI. Far from denying or stopping the technological reality in which we are immersed, this manifesto has to outline the concerns and demands of the creative sector upon the ongoing automation processes and their dangers.
This workshop is planned to be the first of a list of further events that will take place in several European artistic institutions.
This project is curated by Andrew Keen and Enric Puig, and will feature contributions by: Margaret Heffernan, Stephen Marche, Viktor Mayer-Schonberger, Joana Moll, Joan Soler-Adillon, the asynchronous audiovisual contribution of Hito Steyerl, and others to be confirmed.
Open call for artists & researchers
The Santa Mònica Arts Centre calls on artists and researchers interested in attending the intensive workshop in Barcelona on December 1st, 2023.
The workshop is open to all those attendees who are involved from the artistic sector with AI, not necessarily working with it, but concerned about the issue of its advance in the arts and wishing to hear the first contributions from experts with the aim of jointly continuing to work towards the final version of the manifesto.
In addition to the draft of the manifesto, which is expected to be finalized in early 2024, Santa Mònica Arts Centre also raises the possibility of holding a big exhibition based on the results of this conversation and the manifesto itself. Some of the people attending the workshops may participate in this possible exhibition, that would open to the public throughout 2025.
The workshop will be held exclusively in English.
To apply, just complete the following online form before 13 November 2023:
bit.ly/Creative-Manifesto-Open-Call
Participation is free with limited capacity up to 30 people who will be selected based on the motivation expressed in the application form.
Those interested in attending in person the workshop but who do not have an institution to support their trip can let Santa Mònica know through the form, who will study each case and pay up to €500.
