Since March 2024, Galina Bleikh is a host of the international platform ISAST LEONARDO / LASER TALKS JERUSALEM – a meeting place and dialogue between artists and scientists.
Theme of the talk #3:
GENERATIVE ART: PUSHING BOUNDARIES
26, September 2024
in collaboration with Cyland
SEE US ON ISAST LEONARDO PLATFORM >
The INEMEA Association, in collaboration with CYLAND, organizes a discussion on the current state and future of generative art, featuring diverse works that illustrate the interplay between human creativity and algorithms, thereby expanding our understanding of this field and its potential impact.
Chaired/Moderated by:
LASER JERUSALEM / Galina Bleikh and Daria Kesler
EVENT CONTEXT
Our talk explores the evolving landscape and future prospects of generative art, focusing on the intricate interplay between human creativity and mathematical algorithms. We'll showcase works that approach this field from diverse and unexpected angles. By delving into these innovative perspectives, we aim to deepen our understanding of generative art's potential to reshape our world and push the boundaries of artistic expression.
Nimrod Astarhan In his 'Generative Elemental' talk, will shift the focus from screens to reconnect generative art with its material environment. He will explore a definition of generative art rooted in the interaction of energy flows, where Earth’s energies not only fuel, drive, and enable but also interface with, activate, and are activated by digital media technologies. Through recent projects and artworks, this talk will reveal how generative art can deepen our understanding of computation, our lived environment, and ourselves.
Lilia Chak will present her “Piyut Coding” project, which uses generative art to reinterpret ancient Hebrew poetry with a modern twist. This innovative project transforms traditional roles and ideas through a new “coded” lens. The computer code behaves like a living organism, changing the animation and video structure with each playback, while the “live” voice and music remain constant. This approach challenges established perceptions.
Lior Ben-Gai will present his PhD research project “Laboratory of Babel — Explorations of Emergent Virtual Structures.” The project introduces a new computational framework for exploring and studying of Cellular Automata algorithms.
Moderator:
Daria Kesler
Israel
Cross-disciplinary researcher and artist. Works with human and machine-generated texts, sounds, documentaries, scents, and video art. Daria is interested in using modern technologies and science to spread empathy towards all species. She wants to explore new ways of co-living between technology, human, plants, and animals. Education: Master of Art&Science (Inovice), ITMO, Russia, Major studies in Hybrid (Technological and Bio) Art.
Speakers:
Nimrod Astarhan
Berlin
Nimrod Astarhan is an artist, technologist, and educator. Working in sculpture and digital media, exhibited and initiated group projects in Europe, the US, and the International Space Station. Recent showings include the Gwangju Biennial Pavilion Project, Ars Electronica, The Ammerman Center Biennial Symposium on Arts & Technology, Die Digitale Düsseldorf, and xCoAx in Graz, Austria. Last year, they received grants and awards from the Municipal Arts League of Chicago and the Arts, Science + Culture Initiative at the University of Chicago, among others. Nimrod holds an MFA in Art and Technology Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. They taught digital art, code, hardware, and critical theory at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, China Academy of Art, and Shenkar College of Engineering Art, and Design.
https://nimrodastarhan.com
Llila Chak, PhD
Israel
Lilia Chak is an artist, designer and Science-art researcher. She works in New Media Art: Bio-art, Science-art, AI art, Generative art, Video art, Installations, Photography, Conceptual art, Net art, etc. In 2022, Lilia Chak defended her PhD thesis in the Sorbonne’s Art & Science Department (Paris). She is the author of the book "Contemporary Practices in Bio-art: When a Tree Becomes an Artwork", published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing in 2023. Lilia Chak took part in Science-art exhibitions such as: Museo Orto Botanico, Italy (2022); Ars Electronica, Linz (2020); BOZAR, Brussels, (2020); Matsudo International Science Art Festival, Tokyo, (2020); FEFU Art Museum, Vladivostok, (2020); Negev Museum of Art, Beer-Sheva, (2019), etc. Her work has been presented internationally in exhibitions, articles and lectures.
Lior Ben-Gai, PhD candidate
Israel
Lior Ben-Gai is a computational designer and lecturer, specializing in custom interactive software for live performances, installations and web applications. Lior is a PhD candidate (submitted) and a former lecturer at the department of Computing at Goldsmiths University of London. His work explores the vast space of emergent virtual structures in the context of computational arts and artificial life.
https://soog.bet
Theme of the talk #2:
ARTIST AND AI:
COMPETITION? REPLACEMENT? ASSISTANCE?
CO-AUTHORSHIP? SYNERGY?
2, July 2024
in collaboration with Cyland
SEE US ON ISAST LEONARDO PLATFORM >
The conversation, initiated by the INEMEA Association, in collaboration with CYLAND, brings together artists, poets, and cultural theorists to focus on the role of the artist in facing the challenges posed by AI as a new subject and creator of art.
Chaired/Moderated by:
LASER JERUSALEM / Galina Bleikh and Daria Kesler
EVENT CONTEXT
In the era of rapid AI development, artists have a unique chance to rethink and redefine their roles and methods. Whether they view AI as a competitor, assistant, co-author, or synergistic partner, it is crucial to explore and adapt to new technologies while staying true to their artistic vision and human experience.
Kirill Azernyi and Eugeny Nikitin present their collaborative project "Whispered Commands" which was designed as a textual/visual dialogue where voice recording and AI-generated images both play major roles. The project's focus is on how human agency and artistic communication emerge through these different media.
Galina Bleikh discusses her project "The Tumbleweed Cities," created in collaboration with AI. The project's name serves as a metaphor for artificial digital cities generated by the world of illusions, disconnected from geographical, political, and socio-cultural contexts. These digital nomads, with AI-created landscapes, resemble real, recognizable cities yet remain unreal. As internet surfers and digital nomads, we inhabit these Tumbleweed Cities, drifting freely in the digital realm like tumbling bubbles with individual coordinate axes.
Dr. Lev Manovich will discuss selected ideas from his new book “Artificial Aesthetics: Generative AI, Art and Visual Media.” The book analyzes generative media using ideas from history of art and media, psychology and philosophy of art, and digital culture.
Moderator:
Daria Kesler
Israel
Cross-disciplinary researcher and artist. Works with human and machine-generated texts, sounds, documentaries, scents, and video art. Daria is interested in using modern technologies and science to spread empathy towards all species. She wants to explore new ways of co-living between technology, human, plants, and animals. Education: Master of Art&Science (Inovice), ITMO, Russia, Major studies in Hybrid (Technological and Bio) Art.
Speakers:
Kirill Azerniy
Israel
Kirill Azernyi (born 1990) – writer, poet, translator, publisher. Works published in Russian-language literary media (Ural, Novyi Mir, Flagi, Artikulatsia, etc.) and in English-language literary media (Flatbush Review, The Minute Review, Gone Lawn, etc.). Hosts a digital arts site: https://illitera.com Two books of prose published in Russia Editor of samizdat magazine Zdes (2015-2020). Member of the Metajournal editorial board Participant of International Writing Program (USA, University of Iowa, 2015). Participant of Electronic Literature Organization conferences (online, 2020, 2021). Participant of the IX St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum (Russia, 2021). Participant of SlovoNova Free Culture Forum (Tel Aviv, 2023). Examples of digital works: Font. A Novel for Formatting (Cirk “OLIMP” TV, 2020): https://www.cirkolimp-tv.ru/articles/901/shrift-roman-dlya-verstki-v-powerpoint Amateur. A “bubblegum” novel (Vispo, 2024), in collaboration with Jim Andrews: https://vispo.com/guests/kirill/amateur/index.html
Eugeny Nikitin
Israel
Eugeny Nikitin (born 1981) – poet, writer, AI-artist. Poetry books include “The Invisible Lens” (M., 2009), “Stand-up Lyrics” (M., 2015), “Brackets” (M., 2022). Stories collections include “The Eastern Seventeen” (M., 2011, in collaboration with Alena Churbanova), “About Dad” (M., 2019).
A coordinator of the poetry project "Making Words" at the 53d Venice Biennial (2009). Founder of "Metajournal" – an online medium of contemporary poetry. Exhibitions: “AI Has a Soul”, SlovoNovo Forum, Tel Aviv, 2023 “Eugeny Nikitin, Konstantin Eremenko”, SlovoNovo Forum, Lustica Bay, 2023 “Vladimir Sorokin. Blue Lard – Cancel Russian Culture”, Berlin, 2023, Paris, New York, 2024 (not credited).
Galina Bleikh
Israel
A multidisciplinary artist. Her creative expertise spans a rich spectrum of artistic domains, encompassing AI, 3D modeling, AR and VR, bio-art, generative art, and more. At the heart of her artistic pursuit lies a fascination with the profound synergy between the emerging artificial reality and its transformative interaction with human experience through art. Galina's creative endeavors extend to collaborative projects, notably in partnership with Elena Serebryakova since 2011. Together, these two artists have created the visionary concept of their unique creative approach “The Hybrid Neural Network Art” (http://hnn-art.com). Galina graduated from the Stieglitz St. Petersburg State Academy of Art and Industry (MA). Since 1993, lives in Jerusalem. Galina is a cofounder of the INEMEA Association for Art, Culture, and Education and the INEMEA Jerusalem Art & Science lab. Since 2024, Galina becomes a host of Leonardo ISAST Laser Talks Jerusalem. Galina takes part in many exhibitions and conferences. Among them: Jerusalem Biennale (curator and participating artist, 2023–2024), ArtPlatform-On, South Korea (2022), The CICA Museum of Modern Art, South Korea (group and solo, 2021), NordArt, Germany (2019), Haifa Museum of Art, Israel (2018), LA Art Show USA (2013), Artco France Gallery, Paris (solo, 2012), Art Asia Miami (2011), etc. (https://bleikh.art)
Dr. Lev Manovich
USA
Lev Manovich is an artist, writer, and one of the most influential theorists of digital culture worldwide. He is currently a Presidential Professor of Computer Science at the City University of New York's Graduate Center and the Director of the Cultural Analytics Lab. After studying painting, architecture, and filmmaking, Manovich began using computers to create digital art in 1984. He has played a key role in creating four new research fields: new media studies (1991-), software studies (2001-), cultural analytics (2007-) and AI aesthetics (2017-). Since 1991, he has published 190 articles that have been translated into 35 different languages and reprinted over 800 times. He authored and edited 16 books, including Artificial Aesthetics, Cultural Analytics, Instagram and Contemporary Image, Software Takes Command, and The Language of New Media, which has been called "the most provocative and comprehensive media history since Marshall McLuhan." His projects have been exhibited in 14 solo and 122 international group exhibitions at many prestigious institutions, such as the Institute of Contemporary Art (London), the Centre Pompidou, The Shanghai Biennale, and The ZKM | Center for Art and Media. (http://manovich.net)
Theme of the Talk #1:
INTERNATIONAL ART AND SCIENCE EXCHANGE, SHARING EXPERIENCES
14, April 2024
in collaboration with Cyland
The "International Art and Science Lab Exchange: Sharing Experiences" Laser Talks event in Jerusalem is being organized by the Jerusalem INEMEA Art & Science Lab (curator: Galina Bleikh) in collaboration with CYLAND Media Art Lab, founded in 2007 by independent artists and curators.
The INEMEA Art & Science Lab is a newly established institution dedicated to fostering collaboration among artists, scientists, and technologists. The lab invites international communities to share experiences and ideas, promoting interdisciplinary collaboration to address contemporary challenges and drive societal progress.
The INEMEA Lab focuses on bioart, Art&AI, and humanitarian sciences, such as gender issues and border sciences, utilizing the expertise of our creative teams to develop and execute projects in these areas.
INEMEA has extended invitations to participate in the Laser Talks discussion to Professor Nina Czegledy from Toronto, who is an artist, independent curator, researcher, and educator; Jaime Alonso Lobato from Mexico City, who is a transmedial artist, composer, curator, and researcher; as well as Bella Harutyunyan from Yerevan, who is GTC manager, Enterprise Incubator Foundation.
The Laser Talks event in Jerusalem is an international conversation affiliated with the 6th Jerusalem Spring Biennale. Jerusalem venues will host 30 exhibitions featuring the participation of over 200 renowned artists and curators worldwide. The Biennale is organizing a diverse events program to be held in all gallery spaces throughout the seven weeks of the event.
Chaired/Moderated by:
LASER JERUSALEM / Galina Bleikh and Daria Kesler
LASER Talks CYLAND / Anna Frants and Natalia Kolodzei
EVENT INFO
When: 14.4.2024/5:00 pm/ (UTC +3) Time zone,
Where: Location: hybrid event: Jerusalem “The President Hotel” Exhibition hall in the frame of the 6th Jerusalem Biennale and the Zoom meeting with speakers from Canada, Mexico, and Armenia.
EVENT CONTEXT
The "International Art and Science Lab Exchange: Sharing Experiences" Laser Talks event in Jerusalem is being organized by the Jerusalem INEMEA Art & Science Lab in collaboration with CYLAND Media Art Lab, founded in 2007 by independent artists and curators.
The INEMEA Art & Science Lab is a newly established institution dedicated to fostering collaboration among artists, scientists, and technologists. The lab invites international communities to share experiences and ideas, promoting interdisciplinary collaboration to address contemporary challenges and drive societal progress.
The INEMEA Lab focuses on bioart, Art&Ai, and humanitarian sciences, such as gender issues and border sciences, utilizing the expertise of our creative teams to develop and execute projects in these areas.
INEMEA has extended invitations to participate in the Laser Talks discussion to Professor Nina Czegledy from Toronto, who is an artist, independent curator, researcher, and educator; Jaime Alonso Lobato from Mexico City, who is a transmedial artist, composer, curator, and researcher; as well as Bella Harutyunyan from Yerevan, who is GTC manager, Enterprise Incubator Foundation.
The Laser Talks event in Jerusalem is an international conversation affiliated with the 6th Jerusalem Spring Biennale. Jerusalem venues will host 30 exhibitions featuring the participation of over 200 renowned artists and curators worldwide. The Biennale is organizing a diverse events program to be held in all gallery spaces throughout the seven weeks of the event.
INEMEA ART & SCIENCE LAB PRESENTED THE NEXT PROJECTS:
GALINA BLEIKH
The Bible Bot-AI-ny
My Friend Olive Tree App
DARIA KESLER
Reddish Soil
LILIA CHAK, Ph. D.
Lullaby for Corals
NATALIYA KAMENETSKAYA
MAZE
The CIRCUITS series: דֶרֶך Intersections. 2023
Sages on the Way series: Gematria
Evidence
December 21, 2023
LASER TALKS CYLAND IN JERUSALEM: TOPOLOGY BEYOND REPRESENTATION
(Full Video of the Conference)
LASER Talks in Jerusalem presented by Laser Talks Cyland
Topology beyond Representation: Using Generative 3D Modeling Algorithms as a Co-author of Artistic Expression
Moderated by: Alexandra Dementieva (ADEM Lab) and Daria Kesler
Humans and computers team up to create a "hybrid" art form in today's computer-driven world. The artist collaborates with the computer as a partner and a co-creator, exploring many visual ideas and unexpected results. By using computer modeling, artists can go beyond traditional artistic mediums and make invisible things visible. This provides us with an entry point to understand complex or intangible abstract ideas, bridging the gap between the conceptual and the perceptible.
For a new media artist, using computer 3D modeling tools, especially generative ones, is a complex process that involves both creative and technical aspects. Mathematical algorithms embedded in 3D modeling software allow us to manipulate shapes, textures, lighting, and more, turning abstract scientific or philosophical concepts into tangible representations. Through 3D modeling, an artist can go beyond traditional artistic mediums and translate the invisible into a visual form. This provides viewers with an entry point to understand complex or intangible abstract ideas, bridging the gap between the conceptual and the perceptible. By creating a metaphorical representation of the unseen and unimaginable, an artist can also evoke an emotional response to abstract scientific ideas.
Galina Bleikh has created the images of “Perelmania. Topology of Bagel” series on the basis of the single public domain photograph of Perelman that is freely available on the Internet (link is external). If we create a composition out of several 3D models of "bagels" (tori) and "wrap" them with a map consisting of tiled photographs of Grigori Perelman, we will then create a "Perelman topology" of sorts, where the photographs themselves may be altered beyond recognition by the mapping algorithm.
In this project, the mathematician and his discoveries are merged into one, turning into a symbol of the infinite multidimensionality of the world. The scientist turns into an observer, present at every point of the space he cognizes. On the road to coming to grips with this multidimensionality, some outstanding individuals – geniuses – become guides for the rest of humanity.
SPEAKERS BIOS
Galina Bleikh is a multidisciplinary artist. Her creative expertise spans a rich spectrum of artistic domains, encompassing digital art concepts, 3D modeling, AR and VR, bio-art, video art, generative art, NFT-art and more. At the heart of her artistic pursuit lies a fascination with the profound synergy between the emerging technological reality and its transformative interaction with human experience through the medium of art.
Galina's creative endeavors extend to collaborative projects, notably in partnership with Elena Serebryakova since 2011. Together, these two artists have created the visionary concept of '“The Simulacro-Centric World,” a manifestation of their unique creative approach referred to as “The Hybrid Neural Network Art.” (HNN Art http://hnn-art.com(link is external)).Galina graduated from the Stieglitz St. Petersburg State Academy of Art and Industry (MA). Since 1993, she lives in Jerusalem.
Galina takes part in many exhibitions and art conferences all over the world. Among them: ArtPlatform On, South Korea (2022), The CICA Museum of Modern Art, South Korea (group and solo, 2021), NordArt, Germany (2019), Xposed Gallery, New-York (solo, 2019), Haifa Museum of Art, Israel (2018), Street Art Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia (2018), LA Art Show USA (2013), Artco France Gallery, Paris (solo, 2012), Art Asia Miami (2011), etc. (https://bleikh.art(link is external))
Anna Emelin, Ph. D. specializes in researching new media art and hybrid forms of culture that intersect art, science, and technology. She explores virtual reality, interactive art, digital media, and artificial intelligence. In her academic work, she analyzes current artistic practices that use modern media, scientific developments, and technology, as well as the ways contemporary art adapts to the changing technological landscape.
In 2015, Anna Emelin obtained her first doctorate from the University of Ivanovo, Russia. Her dissertation focused on the interaction of different languages of knowledge in society and the formation of their hybrid forms. In 2024, she is completing her doctoral studies at Bar Ilan University, Israel. Her research centers around the science art project of Galina Bleikh and Elena Serebryakova, the theme of re-creating the human in their artworks and in new media art in general, as well as the reality and simulacra relationship in digital and physical spaces.
Eugene Kats, Ph. D. is a professor at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He received his MSc degree (1982) in Semiconductor Materials Science and Ph. D. (1990) in solid state physics from the National University of Science and Technology “MISIS”, Moscow. His research interests include studies and development of new materials and devices for solar energy conversion into electricity as well as a history of science connection between science and art. He has published 145 peer-reviewed papers on these topics as well as a popular scientific book and a number of articles on science history and fullerene-like structures in nanomaterials, living organisms, and architecture. Based on the latter activity he has developed and is teaching an interdisciplinary course “Bridges between fine art and natural sciences: cases of fullerenes, polyhedra, symmetry”.
Prof. Katz was awarded the IAAM Medal (by the International Association of Advanced Materials) for outstanding research in the field of New Energy Materials & Technology.
Moderator: Daria Kesler
Cross-disciplinary researcher and artist. Works with human and machine-generated texts, sounds, documentaries, and video art. She is interested in using modern technologies to spread empathy towards all the species through the eyes of machines. Daria wants to explore new ways of co-living between technology, human, plants, and animals. Education: Master of Art&Science, ITMO, Saint-Petersburg, Russia, 2021–2023 Major studies in Hybrid (Technological and Bio) Art. Master of Journalism, St. Petersburg State University, Russia, 2006–2012 Technological art, Rodchenko Art School, 2021 (curator Alexei Shulgin) Joint Exhibitions: Mycophobia, Collabo, July 2023 (Israel, Tel Aviv-Yaffo) Gamma Festival 2023 (Russia, Saint-Petersburg) Новая искренность/Novaya Iskrennostj – 2023 (Air Gallery, Festival STAGE, Russia, Saint-Petersburg) Забота робота/Zabota robota – 2022 (Russia, Saint-Petersburg). Participant of Ars Electronica (Feral Automated System: ULTB-1, Posthuman Studies Lab (RU) – 2022 (Linz, Austria), The wrong biennale nº5 – 2021, (Russian pavilion) NeiroTAIL, Immersive show – 2021 (theater center "Cosmos", Tyumen, Russia), Summer school of The Faculty of Contemporary Art Sreda Obuchenia and Posthuman Studies Lab research platform – 2021 (Russia, Moscow – Viksa), Participant of Ars Electronica – 2020, (Online pavilion “Pangardenia”).