Institutional Presentation Statement 

CCCB Auditorium, June 14th. Session: Machines, politics and sustainability

Keywords: AI, art, communities, activism, human-computer interaction

AI4FUTURE is an international network of urban labs where artists and young activists cooperate to create awareness through the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to serve the community. The network is co-funded by EU Creative Europe Programme and explores how digital creativity can contribute to relevant societal challenges.

Can Artificial Intelligence be a creative tool for better understanding the social changes we are facing? Through a two-years journey – ending in September 2022 – an international network of urban labs is exploring what artists, computer scientists and young activists can do when they work together. Co-funded by the Creative Europe programme, AI4Future is contributing to improve the knowledge on new possible meanings of Mobility after the emergence of the Covid. This is, in fact, is the first social challenge chosen by the partners: Mobility in its various meanings, that is mobility across national borders, green & sustainable transportation, mobility in a phygital world or connected to gender equality issues. Each partner is shaping with its community a corner of “local” history in order to investigate different perspectives on the issue.

The young activists have been involved since the beginning for the design of the whole journey. Four statements, one for each hosting cultural center, have been produced with them during dedicated workshops: they represent the challenges they are advocating for with their associations.

Four artists among the ninety candidates have been selected for answering these challenges. Chunju Yu, Nino Basilashvili, Bernat Cuní and Luca Pozzi are working in residencies in Rotterdam, Cagliari, Barcelona and Milan. They are developing AI-based works, cooperating with young activists on their local mission. At the end of the residency period the AI-based works will be presented to the local community. With this approach, art and new technologies become ways to help dialogue and consciousness, creating relations, empathy and wonder.

The exhibit in Barcelona, hosted by Espronceda during ISEA, will be used to test the prototypes made so far. The final artworks will be presented in September in Milan, together with scientists and humanists, for an attempt to redefine the concept of mobility in the post-covid era.
https://ai4future.eu

• Federico Bomba is artistic director of Sineglossa (IT). After an MA in Analytical Philosophy at the University of Bologna (Italy) and a master in performing arts, he directed shows represented worldwide until 2014, when he founded Sineglossa, a research center and cultural enterprise. He deals with creating phygital ecosystems in which artists, scientists, entrepreneurs and public administrations cooperate to produce economic and social development. Multimedia designer in the ADI Design Index, artistic director of art+b=love(?) Festival, scientific director of the book series Nonturismo/Ediciclo – Itas Award/ best guide to Mountain 2020 -, AI4Future scientific coordinator, art&science advisor for several museums and private organisations. He is a contributor for online and offline magazines of contemporary art, urban regeneration and cultural economy.