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Submission Type

Panel

Start Date/Time (EDT)

19-7-2024 2:15 PM

End Date/Time (EDT)

19-7-2024 3:15 PM

Location

Algorithms & Imaginaries

Abstract

This is a community engagement session, with its own Zoom information: please join this link instead of the conference track -

https://ubc.zoom.us/j/64078424986?pwd=5Ha5O8RQaloVCQaMIDn76P3TmeZDzE.1 Meeting ID: 640 7842 4986 Passcode: 177432

On February 1st, 2024, a non-profit DIY music and art space in Vancouver, BC, Red Gate Arts Society, posted on Instagram a poster of an upcoming show of “an evening of improvisation and remediated digital sound” by a group called Seethruzoo. This poster, immediately after it was uploaded, exploded with outraged commentary. The background image of the poster was distinctively AI generated and the arts community around this beloved venue reacted in disgust and anger— “ew ai art??? Really?” “AI ‘art’ is art theft.” “Surely one of you can source an artist to make a poster for you. There’s a large pool of talent to draw from, and folks need illustration/design gigs. AI generated images mostly look like crap anyway but that’s not the heart of the issue.” “What does this say that art again becomes the most devalued aspect of an arts society?” Some replies to these comments included a defense of the venue stating that the poster was not designed by the venue, but the artists of the event themselves, a call for a more constructive discussion space, and the society co-founder expressing her willingness to review their booking policies.

The topic of this proposed roundtable is the controversy around this poster—which was made by one of the members of Seethruzoo who is a professional designer. In dialogue with the audience, the panelists of this roundtable will illuminate different aspects of AI use for artistic expressions. Questions addressed in this roundtable include: (1) Why is it that AI generated arts provoke such visceral, aversive, and moralizing responses? (2) What would be constructive ways to talk about and deal with AI innovations among the arts community? (3) What kinds of practices and policies around the use of AI would actually benefit artists? Through addressing these questions, the panelists discuss the creativity involved in generating AI images, the recognition of algorithmic Other, the differences in the intertextuality exercised by human consciousness and artificial intelligence, and so forth. As it was suggested on the comment section of the Instagram post, if ELO organizers permit us to do so, we would like to have this roundtable as an “open access” public forum and ask the Red Gate Arts Society to invite their community members to participate in the discussion.

Bio

Kedrick James is a Professor of Teaching at the Department of Language and Literacy Education at University of British Columbia

Ernesto Peña is an Associate Teaching Professor and the Information Design and Data Visualization Graduate Program Coordinator at Northeastern University.

Derek Gladwin is an Associate Professor at the Department of Language and Literacy Education at University of British Columbia

Giorgio Magnanensi is the artistic director of Vancouver New Music and Laboratorio, and lecturer at the School of Music of the Vancouver Community College.

Yuya Takeda is a Sessional Lecturer at University of British Columbia and University Canada West.

Rachel Horst is a PhD Candidate at the Department of Language and Literacy Education at University of British Columbia

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Jul 19th, 2:15 PM Jul 19th, 3:15 PM

Rage Against The Machine: A Roundtable on an Arts Community’s Reactions Toward AI Art

Algorithms & Imaginaries

This is a community engagement session, with its own Zoom information: please join this link instead of the conference track -

https://ubc.zoom.us/j/64078424986?pwd=5Ha5O8RQaloVCQaMIDn76P3TmeZDzE.1 Meeting ID: 640 7842 4986 Passcode: 177432

On February 1st, 2024, a non-profit DIY music and art space in Vancouver, BC, Red Gate Arts Society, posted on Instagram a poster of an upcoming show of “an evening of improvisation and remediated digital sound” by a group called Seethruzoo. This poster, immediately after it was uploaded, exploded with outraged commentary. The background image of the poster was distinctively AI generated and the arts community around this beloved venue reacted in disgust and anger— “ew ai art??? Really?” “AI ‘art’ is art theft.” “Surely one of you can source an artist to make a poster for you. There’s a large pool of talent to draw from, and folks need illustration/design gigs. AI generated images mostly look like crap anyway but that’s not the heart of the issue.” “What does this say that art again becomes the most devalued aspect of an arts society?” Some replies to these comments included a defense of the venue stating that the poster was not designed by the venue, but the artists of the event themselves, a call for a more constructive discussion space, and the society co-founder expressing her willingness to review their booking policies.

The topic of this proposed roundtable is the controversy around this poster—which was made by one of the members of Seethruzoo who is a professional designer. In dialogue with the audience, the panelists of this roundtable will illuminate different aspects of AI use for artistic expressions. Questions addressed in this roundtable include: (1) Why is it that AI generated arts provoke such visceral, aversive, and moralizing responses? (2) What would be constructive ways to talk about and deal with AI innovations among the arts community? (3) What kinds of practices and policies around the use of AI would actually benefit artists? Through addressing these questions, the panelists discuss the creativity involved in generating AI images, the recognition of algorithmic Other, the differences in the intertextuality exercised by human consciousness and artificial intelligence, and so forth. As it was suggested on the comment section of the Instagram post, if ELO organizers permit us to do so, we would like to have this roundtable as an “open access” public forum and ask the Red Gate Arts Society to invite their community members to participate in the discussion.