Conference • November 1 – 2, 2024
V-Cybercult 2024: AI Artistry Unleashed. Image Generation and Creative Synthesis in the Era of Advanced Neural Networks
The Institute for Multidisciplinary Research in Art and the Faculty of Visual Arts and Design within the “George Enescu” National University of Arts from Iași organized, on November 1st & 2nd, 2024, the Visuality and Cyberculture International Conference (V-Cybercult 2024). The theme of this edition was AI Artistry Unleashed: Image Generation and Creative Synthesis in the Era of Advanced Neural Networks.
As advanced neural networks evolve, their capacity to generate and synthesize images grows exponentially and, in return, challenges our deepest-held notions of creativity, authorship, and the very essence of art itself. In this new era, tools such as DALL-E, GauGAN, StyleGAN, Pix2PixHD, Artbreeder, and DeepDream do more than mimic human artistic styles; they forge new paths, creating unprecedented forms of beauty and expression. These AI systems are not mere assistants to human artists but co-creators, provocatively blurring the lines between human and machine, creator and tool. Projects like “The Next Rembrandt” (J. Walter Thompson Amsterdam & Microsoft) and “Portrait of Edmond de Belamy” (Obvious), which became the first AI-generated artwork to be auctioned at Christie’s, exemplify this shift. At the same time, Trevor Paglen’s “The Machine Vision” series and Anna Ridler’s “Mosaic Virus” illustrate how AI can be used to showcase themes of surveillance and data. Memo Akten’s AI Art series and Refik Anadol’s “The Entropy Gardens” demonstrate how neural networks can generate new forms of abstract and immersive art.
Therefore, we ask ourselves: How does the involvement of AI in art creation challenge traditional notions of authorship and originality? In what ways do AI-generated artworks redefine our understanding of creativity? How should we attribute authorship in collaborative projects between human artists and AI systems? What new aesthetic principles are emerging from AI-generated art, and how do they compare to traditional art forms? Besides, deepfake technology, as seen in the portrayals of public figures like Donald Trump and Pope Francis, raises questions about authenticity and the power of AI in the media. What implications does AI-generated art have for the broader cultural landscape and our conception of visual culture? How do different cultures perceive and integrate AI-generated art, and what cultural biases might exist in AI art creation?
Invited keynote speakers for the conference were:
George Legrady
University of California, Santa Barbara, USA
with the presentation
Transitioning from Analog to Digital, and Current AI Related Issues in Creative Visual Art Practice
George Legrady is an internationally exhibited, digital media multidisciplinary artist and scholar with projects realized in photography, interactive digital media installations, data visualization and computationally generated visualizations. He is a pioneer digital media artist, transitioning from fine art photography to computation in the mid-1980s. His contribution to the digital media field is in intersecting cultural content with data processing as a means for new forms of aesthetic representations and socio-cultural narrative experiences. He is a John Simon Guggenheim fellow recipient, and directs the Experimental Visualization Lab at the University of California, Santa Barbara where he is Distinguished Professor of Digital Media in the Media Arts & Technology graduate program. Born in Budapest, Hungary, raised in Montreal, Canada, he resides in Santa Barbara, California and Paris, France.
Kang Zhang
University of Science and Technology, Guangzhou
with the presentation
AI-Fused Eastern and Western Styles of Art
Kang Zhang is Head and Professor of Computational Media and Arts, Information Hub at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), Professor of Division of Emerging Interdisciplinary Areas, HKUST, Professor Emeritus of Computer Science, The University of Texas at Dallas, and Guest Professor of China Academy of Arts. He was a Fulbright Distinguished Chair and among Stanford’s List of World’s Top 2% Scientists (Lifetime Impact), and held academic positions in China, the UK, Australia and USA. Zhang’s current research interests include computational aesthetics, visual languages, and generative art and design; and has published 8 books, and over 120 journal papers in these areas. He has delivered keynotes at art and design, computer science, and management conferences, and is Associate Editor of The Visual Computer, Journal of Visual Language and Computing, International Journal of Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering, AI & Society, and Visual Computing for Industry, Biomedicine, and Art.
Invited keynote speakers for the conference were:
George Legrady
University of California, Santa Barbara, USA
with the presentation
Transitioning from Analog to Digital, and Current AI Related Issues in Creative Visual Art Practice
George Legrady is an internationally exhibited, digital media multidisciplinary artist and scholar with projects realized in photography, interactive digital media installations, data visualization and computationally generated visualizations. He is a pioneer digital media artist, transitioning from fine art photography to computation in the mid-1980s. His contribution to the digital media field is in intersecting cultural content with data processing as a means for new forms of aesthetic representations and socio-cultural narrative experiences. He is a John Simon Guggenheim fellow recipient, and directs the Experimental Visualization Lab at the University of California, Santa Barbara where he is Distinguished Professor of Digital Media in the Media Arts & Technology graduate program. Born in Budapest, Hungary, raised in Montreal, Canada, he resides in Santa Barbara, California and Paris, France.
Kang Zhang
University of Science and Technology, Guangzhou
with the presentation
AI-Fused Eastern and Western Styles of Art
Kang Zhang is Head and Professor of Computational Media and Arts, Information Hub at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), Professor of Division of Emerging Interdisciplinary Areas, HKUST, Professor Emeritus of Computer Science, The University of Texas at Dallas, and Guest Professor of China Academy of Arts. He was a Fulbright Distinguished Chair and among Stanford’s List of World’s Top 2% Scientists (Lifetime Impact), and held academic positions in China, the UK, Australia and USA. Zhang’s current research interests include computational aesthetics, visual languages, and generative art and design; and has published 8 books, and over 120 journal papers in these areas. He has delivered keynotes at art and design, computer science, and management conferences, and is Associate Editor of The Visual Computer, Journal of Visual Language and Computing, International Journal of Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering, AI & Society, and Visual Computing for Industry, Biomedicine, and Art.
The other presentations, grouped into 3 panels, were given by:
PANEL I
Photorealism, Virtual Reality & The Truth of Images
moderated by Lorena Marciuc & Alexandra Pop
• Manuel Schaub • University of Constance, Germany • The Unreliable Image – Why Photorealistic Art Never Told the Truth
• Francesca Luppino • University of Turin, Italy • Liturgy of the Avatar-Faber – Virtual Rituality in a Comparison Between Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty and Extended Reality
• Jan Waligórski • AGH University, Poland • Can We Truly Envision a Post-National Reality? An Ethnography of Reproducing Banal Nationalism in Social Virtual Reality
PANEL II
Transforming Artistic Practices Across Media: AI & Filmmaking
moderated by Lorena Marciuc & Alexandra Pop
• Daniel Kofi Brako • University of Cape Coast, Ghana • Artificial Intelligence and the Art Director’s Role in Ghanaian Filmmaking: A Cure or a Hazard?
• Çiçek Coşkun • Başkent University, Turkey • Visual Sociology and Artificial Intelligence – Making A Short Film Using Artificial Intelligence
PANEL III
Redefining Art & Aesthetics
moderated by Cosmin Pănescu & Alexandra Pop
• Verena Kuni • Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Germany • Probably Art
• Emily Hsiang • visual artist based in Sweden • AI Art as NFTs
• Anya Znaenok • independent researcher & art historian based in Spain • The Attractiveness of an Error in Art – From Anthony van Dyck and Marc Chagall to Contemporary AI Dilemma
• Paul Wiersbinski • visual artist based in Germany • A Portrait of the AI as a Young Cyber Oracle
• Eduard-Claudiu Gross • Lucian Blaga University, Romania • Replicator or Creator – The Intersection of AI and Photography with Midjourney
• Sanae Ejjebli • University Mohamed I, Morocco • Transcultural Aesthetics – The Cultural Mediation of AI-Generated Art and Visual Culture in a Post-Human Era
Conference within the research project V-Cybercult 2024: 2nd International Conference on Visuality and Cyberculture, funded by the ICMA – UNAGE 2024 research funds.
Organizing committee: Asist. Lect. Daniel Ungureanu (project manager & co-founder, UNAGE Iași), Assoc. Prof. Oana Maria Nae (project assistant & editor, UNAGE Iași), Prof. Cristian Nae (co-founder, ICMA Iași), Asist. Lect. Cosmin Pănescu (UNAGE Iași) and Assoc. Asist. Mihai Aureliu Savin (UNAGE Iași).
