Digilogue Summit '22

One of this year’s panels in Digilogue Summit, “Artificial Intelligence and the Future’s Creative Human Potential” has discussed parallel reality based future theories and it hosted by academician and artist Selçuk Artut, who focuses on artistic research and production with theoretical and practical extents of human- technology relations; the creative coder and ML artist Andreas Refsgaard, who uses algorithms, coding and machine learning in order to discover the creative potential of the digital technologies generated while working in the field between art and interaction design; the artist Mario Klingemann, who is particularly interested in human’s perception of art and creativity, and researches the ways for machines to augment or imitate these processes; and first generation Kalmyk American poet, artist and artificial intelligence researcher Sasha Stiles, who studies the intersection of text and technology. The discussion has covered the new approaches and opportunities that artificial intelligence provides to contemporary creatives and artists, and present new perspectives on the parallel realities that carry on with human consciousness and human- made products.

Having always been an intriguing and fascinating notion for humankind, virtual reality has become a more inclusive part of our lives in recent years, with the emergence of the Metaverse concept. Metaverse offers people the chance to exist in a digital reality, as well as the freedom to define their own character and personality. Human Behavior in the Metaverse panel held discussions about the human behavior in this domain of virtual reality, hosted by academician Levent Erden, who studies digital art and behavioral psychology closely; visual artist and director Enes Güç, who works with CGI and artificial intelligence, and Nina Jane Patel, who pursues projects on creating a safer virtual world while providing consultancy on Metaverse. The discussions in the panel covered the adaptation process of human behavior to virtual reality, the changing human behavior in the virtual domain, and the future of these virtual realms.

Although Web 3.0 stands out with its contributions to our lives in the field of visual arts, it cannot be ignored that it has led to various changes in other areas as well. Music is one of these areas. Is music switching to a new distribution model with Web 3.0?, after finding different ways to advance, evolve and reach the audiences throughout the years Web 3.0 and the New Age of Music Industry panel hosted distinctive names of the industry to elaborate on the changes that music industry goes through with Web 3.0 and the effect these changes have on the industry’s producers.

While the act of creation sounds like a progressive concept today, it has been mentioned a lot in recent years with the disruption it brings. As human beings continue to produce and create for their own benefit, they also go on taking from nature and destroying what is natural. Art and its creation process is no exception. Moderated by the social innovation platform İmece, The Art of Green Living: Curation of a Green Footprint panel focused on sustainability, and discuss the importance and subtleties of creating a green footprint with creators and artists. İmece Lab manager Zeynep Çelik, artist Meltem Şahin and the artist Elmas Deniz, who examines the intersections between economy and nature in her works, focused on the means of embracing a more sustainable approach in production, and discovering paths to more sustainable art.

In addition to the panels, Digilogue Summit will also host three different masterclasses during its two day program at Zorlu PSM. In his “Fun Machine Learning” masterclass, panelist Andreas Refsgaard expressed how machine learning has become an integral part of artistic practices, with the endless creative possibilities and indispensable opportunities that these tools and techniques present.

In the conversation with the participation of Amira Akbıyıkoğlu, Sezin Romi and Fatma Çolakoğlu from the Salt Research and Programs team, focusing on the performance research in Turkey that the institution has been conducting since 2020; The starting point of the project, which is presented through the archive, exhibition and website, how the archives are compiled and opened to access, and its contribution to the 90s on Stage exhibition are discussed. In the chat, where the process will be discussed from the perspective of archivists and programmers, visualization of the research, recording of the performance, and bringing together the digitized archives on a new website, and the processes of public disclosure at Salt Research are evaluated.

In the scope of the Digilogue Summit program, architect and director Liam Young, who visualizes the cities, venues and scenes of our imaginary future for the film and television industry will have a live performance of “Planet City and the Return of Global Wilderness”. Humankind has recreated the world from the scale of cells to tectonic plates after centuries of colonization, globalization, and endless economic extraction. Life of the world’s entire population on a sci-fi safari in a fictional city, where 10 billion people have surrendered the rest of the world to a global wilderness, has been examined.

“The Blue Dot” will discuss speculations on the ecological and epistemological networks woven around the internet, while representing a real-time marker of interaction between users and digital servers. Also throughout the film, planet Earth and its oceans will be presented as a visual metaphor for the internet.

After a long-term research process and experimental films, the short film “Models for Environmental Literacy” will speculatively demonstrate how artificial intelligence can have an alternative perception of the environment.

Craft Net is an international digital platform that aims to map the craft culture of cities through participatory action research in order to reveal the potential of crafts, especially for contemporary creative productions in post-industrial societies. It was developed by artist Bilal Yılmaz and curator Lydia Chatziiakovou, combining their long-term research on handicrafts and social art practices. It was first conceptualized at Gate 27, which was established as an international 'residency' program by Melisa Tapan to promote projects that focus on both dialogue and in practice sustainability and economic development. By questioning the essence of crafts, the meaning of the words contemporary and sustainability, and the use of technology as a means rather than an end, Craft Net re-imagines crafts as a tool for artistic/creative production and as a socially sustainable tool, asking: “What is the nature of the new public space? How can art and activism contribute to this?