In today’s era of rapid technological advancement, artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer just a fantasy from science fiction; it has become a reality in our daily lives and the world of creative arts. AI technology is driving transformative changes in media art in breakthrough ways, challenging and reshaping our understanding of creativity, artistry, and human intelligence. What began as a simple tool for creation is evolving into a collaborator in art, and may even become an autonomous creator, bringing disruptive challenges to the ethical and aesthetic perceptions of art.
This year's Future Media Art Festival exhibition is divided into four chapters, presenting the multiple challenges posed by AI development up to the present. In parallel, the Future Media Forum (FMF) will delve into how AI is transforming the creative ecosystem of art, and how various art institutions, curators, creators, and the general public are responding to these changes. The forum topics will cover AI’s impact on artistic creation processes, its revolutionary influence on visual culture, and the aesthetic shifts and ethical issues brought by AI-generated art. Experts and representatives from global technology art institutions and festivals will participate in multi-faceted discussions and debates, deeply exploring the role AI plays in contemporary art and human culture.
"The new class divisions created by the digital and technological gaps under the wave of AI, along with the economic refugees resulting from stagnation in non-technological industries, have become urgent issues that humanity must confront without delay."
This is not merely a dialogue about technology, but a thoughtful conversation about redefining creativity for the future. Through this forum, we hope to spark more forward-looking discussions on the intersection of innovation and technology.
*The agenda will be announced soon.
Time: 11/27 (WED) 10:00-12:30、14:00-17:00
Venue: CREATORS’ Space R102 Coworking Space
*Consecutive Interpretation in Mandarin and English Provided.
👉🏻 Free Admission via Online Registration
PANEL INFO
▌PANEL 1
Arjon DUNNEWIND (IMPAKT)
IMPAKT: In Media Res
What a joy and privilege it is that we are not part of the beginning or of the end. How enticing it is that we have no clue where exactly we are in the maelstrom of history. In a place between technophilia and technophobia, between harmonious indifference, ideological segregation and superficial antagonism, IMPAKT wants to create moments for inspirational dialogue, innovative production, creative research, critical analysis and cross-cultural collaboration. Our presence and future is being shaped by new technologies and digital platforms. Developments in technology and media are happening fast. The social, economic, cultural and political stakes are high and the potential directions and impact of the developments are hard to fathom. How might art help us comprehend the overwhelming reality in which we live? How might we stay in control and increase our agency over our digital existence?
▌PANEL2
Tina LORENZ (ZKM | Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe)
When We Merge With AI, Everything Will Be Better: Techno Optimism, Climate and What Art Has To Do With It
The idea of connecting humans to computers to form the ultimate techno-biological thinking machine is not new, but the accelerating rate of AI development is. What Hans Moravec could only vaguely dream about when he wrote “Mind Children” in 1988 has moved into the realm of the at least possible. Futurists like Ray Kurzweil predict that humanity will enter a new era of thinking once we link our brains to AI. While Artificial Intelligence has the potential to be as formative and disruptive as the industrial revolution at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, it falls to us, the humans, to decide how we want to shape a world that has AI in it. Art and especially artistic research can help formulate ideas and support discourses that resonate into society, to help us form a clearer picture of the path ahead.
▌PANEL3
Daiya AIDA (Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media)
Media as Environment: Pressure and Resistance
The environment that modern individuals engage with daily has shifted from natural and built environments to one saturated with information media. Over the past 15 years, this media environment has increasingly come under pressure from advertising and commercial influences. It is essential for us to understand these mechanisms and, when necessary, resist them in order to create a healthier environment. This issue is particularly significant for the generation of children growing up amidst these conditions. Just as societies once addressed and improved pollution-contaminated environments, we must now take proactive steps to ensure that the media landscape fosters well-being and supports thoughtful growth. By doing so, we can work towards an environment that prioritizes the genuine needs of people over pervasive commercial interests, protecting future generations and promoting a more balanced interaction with the information that surrounds them.
▌PANEL4
Gantuya BADAMGARAV (Mongolian Contemporary Art Support Association)
Contemporary Art Scene in Mongolia: Embrace or Not to Embrace AI – Perspective of Artists
Mongolian contemporary art is not well presented internationally, but it is vibrant, rich, and diverse. Despite various challenges such as lack of support from the government, contemporary art scene in Mongolia continues growing today. Some artist-run and other small-scale NGOs are playing important role for keeping scene active and vibrant. Although use of technology is relatively limited among Mongolian artists, media art scene is gradually expanding.
In my talk, I will introduce Mongolian Contemporary Art Support Association, and its latest initiative XAOS, international festival of experimental music and visual art, which aims to present works of prominent artists, who are pushing boundaries of music and visual art using technological advancements. The talk will also expand on the perspective of Mongolian artists on emerging technologies such as AI.
▌PANEL5
Mourad BENNACER（Society for Arts and Technology）
Distributed Collective Memories
With the rise of our digital habits, our collective memories are evolving from static records to dynamic, accessible collections inviting contributions from across the globe. Immersive technologies like XR and dome environments let us move beyond a passive experience; they enable us to embody experiences and foster empathy for diverse perspectives in ways traditional media cannot. As interactive storytelling and virtual installations gain ground, artists increasingly see their work as participatory journeys that blend the personal with the collective to connect us across time and cultures. In a landscape dominated by industrial data collection, we’ll explore how empathy-driven approaches can empower artists to reshape collective memory and reimagine digital archiving.
SPEAKER INFO
▌Arjon DUNNEWIND
Arjon DUNNEWIND is director of IMPAKT (Festival and Centre for Media Culture) in Utrecht, The Netherlands. He enjoys constructive controversy and sees art as the early warning mechanism that is essential to our current media-driven society. DUNNEWIND was born in Ommen, The Netherlands in 1967 and studied Fine Arts and Media at HKU University of Arts Utrecht from 1985 to 1991. In 1988 he organized the first IMPAKT Festival and in 1993 he established the IMPAKT Foundation. In the early 2000's he started IMPAKT Online, a platform for the presentation of interactive art projects and streaming video, and IMPAKT Works, a residency programme where international artists working with video, digital media and new technologies are facilitated to make new work. In 2021 he initiated CODE, a co-creation project that brings together artists, politicians, policymakers and the general audience in a dialogue aimed at better laws and legislation that will protect us as digital citizens and consumers.
DUNNEWIND has curated exhibitions and screening programmes for amongst others the Museo de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires, the NCCA in Moscow, RURU Gallery in Jakarta, transmediale Berlin and Ars Electronica Linz, and he has worked as an advisor for the Dutch Film Fund, the Dutch Mediafonds, Fonds BKVB and the Mondrian Fund.
IMPAKT
IMPAKT [Centre for Media Culture] presents critical and creative views on contemporary media culture and explores issues at the intersection of society, digital culture, technology and media from different perspectives and disciplines, such as art, science and politics.
Throughout the year, we organise a variety of activities, such as exhibitions, panels, artist talks, presentations, screenings, workshops, co-creation projects and residencies.
IMPAKT started as a media arts festival in 1988 and the annual festival is still one of our main projects. It is a five-day multimedia event in which exhibitions, lectures, performances and artist talks are used to explore urgent societal topics related to art and technology. The festival is organized at various locations in Utrecht, the Netherlands and online at Planet IMPAKT.
▌Tina LORENZ
Tina LORENZ came of age in the Chaos Computer Club but went on to study theater studies and American literary history in Vienna and Munich. They were a lecturer for theater history at the Academy for Performing Arts Bavaria, later dramaturge at the Landestheater Oberpfalz and finally consultant for digital communication at the Staatstheater Nürnberg, before founding and leading the Digital Theatre department at the State Theatre of Augsburg from 2020 to 2023.
Tina LORENZ is a founding member of the hackspaces metalab Vienna and Binary Kitchen Regensburg; since January 2024, they head the department of artistic research and development »Hertzlab« at ZKM | Karlsruhe.
ZKM | Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe
The ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe is a unique cultural institution worldwide, because it is a place that expands the original tasks of the museum. It is a house of all media and genres, and was founded in 1989 with the mission of continuing the classical arts into the digital age.
In its work, ZKM combines research and production, exhibitions and performances, collections and archives, mediation and events. Through interdisciplinary connections of these fields of work, ZKM as an agile organization can present and produce the development of art and media of the 20th and 21st centuries. Symposia and other formats of theoretical discourse between art, philosophy, science, technology, business and politics complement the ZKM program to examine the effects of medialization, digitization and globalization on society.
▌Daiya AIDA
Daiya AIDA was born in Tokyo in 1976. He completed his studies at the Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences (IAMAS), and worked at the Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (YCAM), an art institution with a focus on media art, from 2003 to 2014, where he was responsible for education and outreach, namely the planning and operation of film screenings, community participation programs, media workshops, and outdoor installations. His work at the YCAM earned him the Kids Design Award Grand Prize, Good Design Award, and Jury Selections for the Media Arts Festival Award. In 2013 AIDA joined the 13-member, seven-nation curatorial team for Media/Art Kitchen, a media art exhibition—organized by the Japan Foundation to mark the 40th anniversary of ASEAN—Japan friendship and cooperation—that toured Japan and Southeast Asia. For five years, since 2014, he held the position of Project Assistant Professor, teaching workshop design for the Graduate Program for Social ICT Global Creative Leaders at the University of Tokyo. He served as Curator (Learning) at Aichi Triennale 2019 and 2022. In Dec. of 2019, AIDA came back to YCAM as Artistic Director.
Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media
YCAM, established in 2003 by Yamaguchi City in Japan, is a public cultural center featuring a 450-seat theater, a 300-square-meter gallery, and a 100-seat cinema, with the Yamaguchi Central Library on site. Tasked with creating new works alongside artists, YCAM operates the YCAM InterLab, a team of specialists dedicated to supporting artistic production.
As media environments evolve, the need for new cultural developments grows. In this context, YCAM embraces the philosophy of “creating and learning together” with local citizens and experts. The center explores approaches to media technology, the cultural potential of information, and its significance for humanity. Through these initiatives, YCAM not only develops new forms of expression and learning but also aims to nurture a new generation of creative thinkers. This approach contributes to a global dialogue on how to engage with and shape the media landscape for the future.
▌LU Chieh-Chih
TBA
▌Gantuya BADAMGARAV
Gantuya was bron in Mandalgobi, Mongolia, and is a self-made curator with a MA degree in macro-economic policy from Williams College, MA, USA. Following her passion, Gantuya quitted her successful career in 2012 and established 976 Art Gallery and Mongolian Contemporary Art Support Association, with the aim to support and promote contemporary art in Mongolia.
Given limited resources and risk, Gantuya worked actively to support contemporary art; united organizations and people to channel their resources and passion. She organized and curated over 100 exhibitions in her home country and abroad, including four editions of Mongolia participation in Venice Art Biennale (2015, 2017, 2019, 2022), curating latter two. She also supported Mongolian artists’ participation in other internationally known exhibitions such as Documenta, Gwangju Biennale, Asia Pacific Triennial. In 2021 Gantuya established Nomadic Red Corner, International Artist Residency and launched XAOS – International Festival of Experimental Music and Visual Art in 2024, together with Bilguun Tuvshinbold.
Gantuya is a one of the contributing authors of Daybook, published by Documenta 14 and speaker at numerous international conferences, including Salzburg Global Seminar 2022, Asia Art Network Forum 2022 by Asia Culture Center, Gwangju Korea, GAAB Warsaw Summit 2019, 2nd Culture Summit Abu Dhabi 2018 and 7th World Summit for Arts and Culture in Malta 2016.
Mongolian Contemporary Art Support Association
MCASA Mongolian Contemporary Art Support Association is an NGO established in 2012 with the aim to support and promote contemporary art in Mongolia. The Association implements strategically important projects to improve the competitive capacity of Mongolian artists at domestic and international platforms; initiated and organized the first ever Mongolia participation in the Venice Art Biennale in 2015 and subsequent editions in 2017, 2019 and 2022 and has collaborated with Documenta, Asia Pacific Triennial, Gwangju Biennale, and other highly regarded exhibitions, involving Mongolian artists.
Established in 2012, its affiliate 976 Art Gallery has been actively organizing multidisciplinary exhibitions, performances, and open discussions, becoming an “art incubator” like space for both artists and the audience. Right after COVID start, MCASA decided to close 976 Art Gallery, instead launched community development projects in poorer areas of Ulaanbaatar city. As a result of this initiative Nomadic Red Corner, international artist residency was established. In 2024, MCASA initiated XAOS, international festival of experimental music and visual art.
▌Mourad BENNACER
In 2016, Mourad BENNACER joined the Society for arts and technologies (SAT), an organization dedicated to immersive creation, as a project manager, trainer and all around “audio spatialist”. As part of SAT’s research & creation team, he contributed to the realization of close to 90 projects over the past 7 years. He now manages artistic development initiatives such SAT’s residencies program, which supports creation, research and development for local and international artists alike. He is also curator for the SAT Fest international fulldome festival and Substrat, an immersive concert series focused on the promotion of local musical talents in immersive and multichannel music.
Mourad Bncr’s audiovisual work incorporates both synthetic and recorded artifacts that cultivates a rich and visually compelling approach to music, establishing connections between his North African cultural heritage, science fiction tropes, and audiovisual artifacts from obsolete technologies. Inspired by the concept of memory transience, his artistic research questions our experience of physical and synthetic spaces, the way we archive these spaces and the cultural significance they hold. His recent works have been presented in festivals such as MUTEK (QC-CA), Akousma (QC-CA) or Tasmeem Doha (Qatar).
Society for Arts and Technology (SAT)
Founded in 1996, the Society for Arts and Technology (SAT) is a non-profit organization dedicated to digital culture. With its multiple mission as a center dedicated to the arts, training and research, it is recognized internationally for its active, leading role in developing technologies for immersive creation, mixed realities and telepresence. The Satosphere, one of the first digital domes dedicated to artistic creation, has consistently contributed to the development of dome artworks, supporting local and international talents since its opening in 2012.
▌Naima MORELLI
Naima MORELLI is a journalist and arts writer specialized in the Asia-Pacific and the MENA region. Currently based in Rome and constantly on the go, she has the mission of bridging Asia and Europe through art, culture and words. Her pieces regularly appear in The Financial Times, The Art Newspaper, Al-Jazeera and Il Manifesto, and she contributes texts to a number of publications and exhibitions catalogs. She is also the author of three books on Southeast Asian contemporary art.
MORELLI has also worked as a curator, with a practice revolving around creating meaningful exchanges and connections between Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. Her relevant experience includes curating a double-solo of Burmese artists at the Castelnuovo Festival, Italy, an exhibition in Venice of artist Eddy Susanto during the Biennale, talks of emerging Australian artists in Rome, coordinating the Italian logistics for the exhibition SHOUT! Indonesian Contemporary Art at MACRO, curating a series of screenings of Indonesian artists for the Museum of Oriental Art G.Tucci in Rome and more.
▌WU Dar-Kuen
Currently serving as the Director of the Contemporary Art Platform at Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab (C-LAB), Wu Dar-Kuen has long been active in various fields, including art creation, curation, teaching, administration, and writing. He previously held the position of Director at Taipei & Treasure Hill Artist Village and founded the Taiwan Art Space Alliance (TASA), where he served as its first chairman. Wu was also the chief curator at Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, where he played a significant role in promoting the development of contemporary art in Taiwan.
Throughout his extensive artistic practice, Wu has focused on cross-disciplinary innovation, using curation as a bridge for social engagement. By integrating art, technology, and society, he leverages creativity to challenge and transform thinking. Wu explores how contemporary art and technology can deeply engage with society, and he is dedicated to opening new international channels for communication and collaboration in Taiwan’s contemporary art scene, fostering a dynamic exchange between art and society.
▶ Free Admission via Online Registration.
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