The Board Meeting: Based on a True Story – Season 2, ‘Radical Hope’

Breakout Session 1: Thursday 21 November 14:30 - 16:30
Alexandra Ross, The Glasgow School of Art / University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
Rob van den Nieuwenhuizen, Ingrid Grunwald, Maarten Cornel, Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, Netherlands
Inge Linder-Gaillard, Les Beaux-Arts de Marseille, France
Savvas Lazaridis, Christophe Alix, IAD - Institut des Arts de la Diffusion, Belgium

Following the success of their inaugural performative workshop, ‘The Board Meeting’, at ELIA Biennial 2022 in Helsinki, the Splinter Group, comprising seven colleagues from four schools, reunites for a new session in Milan. Emerging from shared interests at ELIA in Brussels, the group addresses pressing issues faced by art schools. The session explores evolving challenges, including geopolitical crises intensifying student stress. This performative workshop takes the form of a Board Meeting, where all members, adopting fictional roles such as head of art school, tutor, or student, engage in equal-level conversations based on true, albeit fictionalised, stories and dilemmas. Attendees, representing various art school roles, will delve into meaningful engagement with students and address pertinent questions. The Splinter Group eagerly anticipates a dynamic exchange with students and colleagues, collectively exploring and unravelling the intricacies of contemporary art education dilemmas.

Encounters with emergence: Welcoming voices of others and otherness through artistic practices

Breakout Session 1: Thursday 21 November 14:30 - 16:30
Jan van Boeckel, Anke Coumans, Luuk Schröder, Linde Ex, Minerva Art Academy, Groningen, Netherlands

One way to understand and appreciate artistic intelligence is to see it as stemming from an artistic attitude. An attitude, wherein the Other and, more widely, the more-than-human world, are approached with an open mindset, welcoming and being fully attentive to its distinct voices. Artistic inquiry, then, might take shape for example in (a series of) encounters in which the emergent can surface in in-between spaces. This workshop hinges on two artistic explorations in which such encounters are sought. Luuk Schröder will host the first workshop, in which he brings objects of electronic waste and shares the stories, fantasies, and speculations that he (and his colleagues at a recycling centre) had about these objects. Linde Ex will subsequently host an immersive, embodied, and collaborative experiment that aims to explore ways of connecting to the more-than-human world. The session will be introduced by Jan van Boeckel and concluded by Anke Coumans.

‘Paper Basket’ – An experimental workshop to synthesise artistic and artificial intelligence

Breakout Session 1: Thursday 21 November 14:30 - 16:30
Hanja Blendin, Katrin Stowasser, Zurich University of the Arts, Switzerland

Embark on a dynamic exploration of the evolving dialogue between artistic and artificial intelligence at the workshop. Delve into critical questions surrounding skill education and development, emphasising the relevance of art schools in nurturing graduates' critical capabilities. The interactive session, hosted by the Zurich Centre for Creative Economies and ZHdK's Quality Development Office, seeks visionary ideas for the future of art schools. Uncover the vibrant intersection of artistic intelligence, rooted in human creativity, aesthetic principles, and emotions, with the logical and predictive nature of artificial intelligence. This experimental workshop promotes an agile, holistic approach, encouraging experimentation, embracing failure, and fostering critical reflection. Join the conversation shaping the strategic concept of artistic intelligence, where artists seamlessly integrate artificial intelligence into their practice. Discover the diverse dimensions of artistic intelligence and contribute to envisioning the next generation of art schools.

Hyperlinked Rituals

Breakout Session 1: Thursday 21 November 14:30 - 16:30
Christian Schmidts, Jonny-Bix Bongers, Berlin University of the Arts, Germany

‘Hyperlinked Rituals’ is an ongoing artistic research venture exploring performance methods in virtual realms, employing open avatars and interactive spaces within the gaming software Unreal Engine. This project establishes a 'playable' world where performers navigate and spontaneously generate live performances, delving into the agency and accessibility of such digital environments. Focused on the belief that contemporary digital visuality diverges from prior eras, it anticipates the rise of 'Bio Medias’, envisioning images as systems evoking 'life-like behaviour’. The project challenges seclusion in metaverses, advocating for a playful approach. It aims to harmonise artificial and biological life, fostering a de-hierarchised connection between real and virtual worlds. Through character design and world-building, Christian Schmidts and Jonny-Bix Bongers explore new forms of interaction. Associated with the Master's Programme in Design and Computation at UDK/TU Berlin, they present their findings in a unique lecture-performance, blending theory and practical experimentation within the Unreal Engine.

Exploring Arts Plural: Defining Artistic Intelligence, Shaping Reality, and Harnessing the Circus of Possibilities for Planetary Solutions in Performing Arts

Breakout Session 2: Thursday 21 November 17:00 - 18:30
Nina Araya Berrios, Kyiv Municipal Academy of Performing and Circus Arts, Ukraine

In this compelling exploration, ‘Arts Plural’ beckons participants to ponder the intricacies of artistic intelligence and its profound influence on our reality. Set against the backdrop of the circus and performing arts, the narrative challenges conventional boundaries, prompting a reconsideration of creativity and expression. Emphasis is placed on unravelling the structures enabling artistic intelligence to address global challenges. The unfolding circus of possibilities encourages readers to envision performing arts as agents of awareness, empathy, and real-world solutions. ‘Exploring Arts Plural’ serves as a rallying cry, urging artists and audiences to engage in a dialogue surpassing the stage and redefining artistic intelligence in the face of contemporary challenges.

Artistic co-creation methods for innovation and sustainability

Breakout Session 2: Thursday 21 November 17:00 - 18:30
Thomas Arctaedius, Klas Nevrin, Royal College of Music in Stockholm, Sweden

This workshop unveils an innovative, sustainability-driven approach rooted in a process-relational perspective, shaped by cutting-edge artistic research. It delves into the unpredictable emergence of ideas through co-creation, reshaping problem formulation for increased space in nonlinear dynamics and transdisciplinarity. Collaborating with artists and industry leaders, the session adapts artistic co-creation methods for business contexts, uncovering possibilities overlooked by conventional industry innovation practices. Tools such as 'useful vagueness' and 'enabling constraints' introduce flexibility, fostering productive disordering to amplify indeterminacy and nonlinear dynamics. Rooted in the ‘Music in Disorder’ project, the workshop integrates perceptual-affective skills for attentive listening to generative vagueness and counterplay. Participants engage with the project's core ideas and practice them in a creative co-creation session, exploring the transformative potential of introducing artistic sensibilities into corporate settings.

The Dark Parlor
A conversation without ligh

Breakout Session 3: Friday 22 November 09:00 - 11:00
Ambra Pittoni, University of Arts Linz, Austria

As part of their practice-based PhD research, the presenter introduces ‘The Dark Parlor’, a unique space and practice dedicated to sharing artistic projects, ideas, and discussions in darkness. Embracing the inherent uncertainty and intuition within artistic research, this session explores a dimension that is often challenging to articulate to external audiences. Participants, gathered in darkness, will read and discuss projects using minimal reading lights, creating an atmosphere that amplifies the emergence, sensation, and embodiment of artistic knowledge. Focused on the theme of intuition within this specific spatial context, the Dark Parlor aims to foster conversations that transcend conventional language, tapping into the embodied and sensuous aspects of artistic intelligence.
Participants are invited to bring along words, ideas, intuitions that are important for them, things they already know or that they cherish without having an explanation yet.