2024 Future Media FEST: Singularity

From October 4 to December 15, C-LAB will host the 2024 Future Media FEST exhibition under the theme of Singularity. This year’s event is an exploration of the evolution of artificial intelligence and social implications, focusing on the latest developments and perspectives on AI that have emerged throughout the world.

As technological advancement accelerates worldwide, we are racing towards the singularity moment, a concept popularized by computer scientist and mathematician Vernor Vinge in 1993. This is a prediction of a moment when machine intelligence overtakes human intelligence, in an unprecedented “explosion” that will completely disrupt and revolutionize the future of human civilization. C-LAB responds to AI’s breakneck evolution through the theme Singularity, organizing the exhibit into four thematic chapters, “Flowing Anchor”, “Transformation of Creativity”, “Creator’s Insight”, and “AI Ongoing”.

23 artist groups from 9 countries have been invited to exhibit 26 exciting works that demonstrate the applications of AI technology in the field of art and explore the ways technology influences the outcomes of culture and society.

In the first chapter of Singularity, “Flowing Anchor”, researchers LEE Chia-Lin and Eric TSAI of ZIMU CULTURE recount the progress of modern technology and the anchor points of AI development, exploring how technology has uprooted perceptions and values of society and recounting epoch-defining events. New media art pioneer YUAN Goang-Ming deconstructs the civilized landscape of human physical space in his latest work Flat World. YUAN leverages the Google Street View database to group similar scenes of streets around the globe using human and AI processes, tiling these together to form a continuous landscape loop, mirroring the ways human perception of geography is constantly being reshaped, shifted, and circulated under the forces of technology.

The “Transformation of Creativity” chapter focuses on how AI has become a new force in artistic creation, and the ways audiences can reevaluate their role in an AI-generated environment. HYPER CURRENT’s Co-Infinite 3.0 recreates scenes of everyday life, from natural landscapes, and architectural spaces, to facial expressions in the virtual sphere, constructing an alternative reality that’s familiar yet somewhat foreign. Audiences are not passive observers, but active participants in this ever-changing environment as they experience how AI constantly rewrites our concept of reality through algorithms.

“Creator’s Insight” explores how technology provides artists with new perspectives and modes of expression using image generation, motion capture, game engine, and speculative design toolkits. Ever since the introduction of the first AI chatbot in 2022, artists have been intrigued by a robot’s capacity for independent thought. HUANG Zan-Lun, Luca BONACCORSI, and the art collective 2ENTER investigate the complex history and philosophy of robots and the Internet through their conversations with AI. WEI Ze and Riar RIZALDI create digital avatars to illustrate the relationship between technological society and labor capital. KIM Ayoung, LU Yang, and YUEN HSIEH, frequent guests of international technology art festivals, fashioned digital utopias that surpass traditional worlds using game engines and scripting languages. In a time where distinctions between organic lifeforms and artificial designs are blurring, YANG Sookyun, Yaloo, and Anke SCHIEMANN propose their respective imaginings of bionic lifeforms. These works not only challenge the senses but also prompt consideration of the deeper relationship between technology and mankind’s future.

“AI Ongoing” presents the infinite possibilities and challenges brought on by technological singularity. At this critical juncture, technology is not only an extension of human intelligence but also an important force in defining the future, pushing digital resilience to the fore. International nonprofit organization Tactical Tech will share its approach and expertise in its mission to increase resilience in the global community and shape the future of collective society, politics, and the environment in the context of digital revolutions.