15s or less SHOWCASE

Conceptualized for the Instagram stories

10 min readJun 9, 2020

“What does it mean to be human in the era of artificial intelligence?

‘15 or less SHOWCASE’
29.30.31.05.2020 live on Umanesimo Artificiale Instagram stories

What does it mean to be human in a World where intelligent computers are taking over tasks that for centuries have belonged to human beings, and that have been identified with the concept of “being human”?

The intent of 15s or less SHOWCASE was to present computer programming as an artistic and performative language, a new medium for creation. Artworks were intended to inform, inspire and make the audience think and reflect upon (near) future scenarios where humans and machines interact and amplify each other. They were intended to provoke, positively.

Six artists and curators were invited to give their perspective on how coding is shaping and reshaping what does it mean to be human, and how — through the interaction between man and machines — we human beings understand more of who we are and our place in a technology-mediated World.

The spirit of this experiment was to challenge the artists/curators to create contents to be experienced through the Instagram stories — by leveraging the limitations of the 15 seconds — and see how Umanesimo Artificiale community reacted to it.

Overall the experiment was a success and we are very satisfied. Both from the point of view of contents created and the process we went through with the artists/curators, and from the point of view of user engagements and feedbacks we received from our community.
Equally relevant were the insights we obtained on what works and what works less, which are very precious for our future initiatives.

Below the list of projects presented during the 3 days showcase.

PROJECT 1 — DAY 1

Filippo Cicoli: “This is not a Turing test”

Filippo Cicoli was born 32 years ago, still alive. Law degree and philosophy student. Still looking for meaning.

What is poetry? What are poets for?

There is a lot of talk about art produced by robots and artificial intelligence, but are these artworks really to be considered as products of the machines? Or are robots and AI simply tools that we humans use to make art?

“Let’s suppose that the emergence of consciousness in artificial intelligence is possible; if the machines’ minds feel the need to create art, will we be able to understand it? To answer this question, we must consider two more questions: when does a machine become the author of a work of art? And how can we go about understanding its work?

The intent of “This is not a Touring test” was mainly to provoke.

How can a machine, an AI speak the language of poetry? How can a computer program express the ‘sense of poetry’ typical of a poetic verses?

It is certainly in the order of the poetic game that the expressed singularity remains obscure, since it is itself obscure even to its author. For many, making poetry is an unconscious reversal that is detached from the rationality. For the machine it is the opposite: it tries to complicate rational systems to the maximum to “simulate” the sense of poetry.

Can we say that we are in front of a poetic act or do we simply witness the creation of a terribly complex scheme capable of giving us the thrill of the world?

Poetry is about generating and not giving birth to beautiful words, skilfully chosen metaphors, stubbornly sought rhythms as in the case of the artefact dialogue of a machine, even if it is “intelligent”.

The real job of a poet is to give space to depth that allows the body to tremble. The body, in fact.”

PROJECT 2 — DAY 1

Quiet Ensemble: “Useless machines, digital nature and sculptures”

Quiet Ensemble observes the balance between chaos and control, nature and technology, creating subjects that perfectly merges those elements; elements that take form from the relation of organic and artificial subjects, moving the attention to insignificant and wonderful elements, like the movement of a fly or the sound of trees.
https://www.quietensemble.com/
@quiet_ensemble

Quiet Ensemble did a selection of works that analyzed different artists approach to technology. The intent was to let the audience witness machines becoming the main subject, showing mechanisms, fascinating electronics and sounds. In other pieces the machine is serving human purpose or imitating his behaviour, in some other is imitating nature and sometimes, through technology, human just makes sculptures and useless stuff.

Among the 38 works selected by the artists, we can list some of Quiet Ensemble own projects: “Mechanical Ballet” — a robotic installation that emphasizes the hidden soul in apparently inanimate objects — , “The Enlightenment” — a concert where the classical orchestra and instruments are replaced by an electric set up — , “Preforma” — an installation that focuses on the microscopic particle or on the tiny fragment hidden behind the apparent immobility of forms.

As well as other international artists and projects, such as: Quayola “Sculpture Factory”, Hideyuki Sawada “Motormouth Robot KTR-12”, Louis-Philippe Demers and Bills Vorn “Inferno” performance at CTM Festival in Berlin, Le Theatre de l’entrouvert “Anywhere”, Madeline Gannon “Manus”, Naomi Lea “Yours, Shadow”, Niklas Roy “My little piece of privacy”, Olafur Eliasson “Your unpredictable sameness” and Pollen Asso “Raw”.

Hideyuki Sawada “Motormouth Robot KTR-12” | Quayola “Sculpture Factory”

PROJECT 1 — DAY 2

Naoto Hiéda: “Stories from HK”

Naoto Hiéda is a Japanese artist based in Germany. He spent from 15.09.2019 to 11.10.2019 in Hong Kong as a visiting artist.
https://naotohieda.com/
@micuat

“Stories from HK” focused on protests in Hong Kong by creating a new work and curating works that are related to the digital culture in Hong Kong (but not limited to the protest).

It was a personal and honest view of the artist and the intent was to raise awareness on the current situation in Hong Kong. “I would like to acknowledge that not only the people in the frontline of a demonstration are supporting the democracy. There are people who are helping through different mediums”

Hiéda used an instagram-scraper to collect images from Instagram feed and stories. Everyday a “bot” the artist created searched images with the hashtag #hongkongprotest and then collected the Instagram stories posted by those Instagram accounts.

Based on these images, Hiéda created an Instagram filter using Spark AR showing a 3D model of an iPhone attached to the face, displaying these Stories. Tapping the screen triggered switches the content displayed on the phone as well as the background color.

(The Instagram filter is still downloadable on the filter gallery by searching for “Stories from HK” or by following Naoto Hiéda (@micuat) on Instagram.)

screenshots of “Stories from HK” Instagram filter by Naoto Hiéda

PROJECT 2 — DAY 2

KRINO: “Identity != identical”

KRINO was founded in Pisa by a group of Digital Humanities university students. Its main goal is to explore, extend and affect the Italian and international DH environment.
https://krino.org/
@krino_org

“Everyone is tracked. Whether we want it or not. Whether we use digital devices or not. During most of our daily tasks we generate data: accessing a subway, taking money from an ATM, walking close to a security camera. Even when we are doing nothing, an algorithm is calculating — for example — the elapsed time from our last access to a website to email us a “special offer”. But what can algorithms see about people they are profiling? And what about humans? How do they perceive the same data? Can data inspire stories, feelings or emotions? These are the starting points of our project.”

For its project KRINO aimed at investigating which kind of associations humans could establish with the very same data. KRINO tried experimenting on its members and challenged the audience during the showcase: what it discovered is that we — as humans — see and develop stories. We constantly make an effort to attribute identities to identical profiles.

“Our digital traces are part of us, they help us know, understand and process our identity but, as it often happens, the whole is not the sum of its parts. Being human in a digital world means embracing new, different facets of ourselves: by gaining awareness of our data, we have the opportunity to focus on our non-identical identities.”

PROJECT 1 — DAY 3

RGBdog: “We Declare”

RGBdog is a studio that aims to push the limit of technology in visualisation and sound, founded by Soyun Park. By involving technology and creating collective projects, RGBdog hopes to bring communities together and encourage their creations. RGBdog is physically based in The Netherlands, however, it actively exists in the digital space.
https://rgb.dog/
@rgb.dog

This was a participatory, collective constitution project which involves artists, researchers and designers working creatively with technology, especially Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.

Together with other creatives, Park aim to make a collective oath bringing the importance of making ethical decisions as a creator and share with fellow humans facing this change.

The declarations are available on Umanesimo Artificiale stories highlights.

PROJECT 2 — DAY 3

Giulia Tomasello: “Coded BIOphilia”

Giulia Tomasello is a designer innovating in women’s healthcare combining biotechnology and interactive wearables.
https://gitomasello.com/
@gitomasello

Can technology become more human than humans?

Technology is getting closer and closer to our skin. The project explored the possibilities of creating biomaterials and proposed alternative applications to our current electronic components.

These components should feel part of nature and behave just like us. By exploring the notion of a technological second skin, in her work Tomasello aims to design biocompatible devices that mimic the symbiotic relationship we have with other microorganisms that we cannot live without. The goal of Tomasello’s work is to propose new alternatives to our current technological interfaces and aim to blur the boundaries between what is human and what is technology.

Future Flora is a harvesting kit designed for women to treat and prevent vaginal infections.

The human body is composed for the 90% of different microorganisms, most of which are beneficial to their host.
Microbes as bacteria, fungi and viruses are part of our skin flora, covering both the inside and the outer surface of our body. Even though invisible to our eyes, our microflora has a symbiotic relationship with the interface between our body and the environment — our skin.
Flora aims to incentive this symbiotic relationship that raises the beneficial presence of microbes and bacteria in the human body. This proposal uses techniques of microencapsulation of targeted bacteria in a non-woven fabric making it possible to wear the probiotics that keep our body healthy. Creating scaffolds for the exponential bacterial growth in appropriate areas of the body, our clothes and accessories become the ecosystem that balance and support our skin flora.

We would like to personally thank the artists and curators who accepted our invitation to the showcase and open-mindedly experimented with us!

And a big thanks to everyone who ‘virtually’ visited the showcase and interact with the experiments!
Ciao :)