The Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, a DIMYMYDI Digital Mythologies - Mythical Digitalities project partner, organised the 2nd Multiplier Event of the project at the academy on the 29 February 2024. The DIMYMYDI seminar called Digital Literacy in Art Education aimed to highlight the tension between traditional teaching methods and the ever-changing digital landscape. Through a series of lectures, the event explored how digital tools can enhance art education by fostering a comprehensive artistic ecosystem, a one where digital technologies can be manipulated and their profound impacts on both the arts and society can be critically explored.
The evening kicked off with an introduction to the Erasmus+ project DIMYMYDI by Tarja Nieminen and Gerard Fox. This was followed by a lecture by Kristi Fekete, who discussed digital intimacy and its impact on artistic expression from a feminist perspective. Her practice is characterized by a feminist, intersectional interpretation of digital intimacy and its influence on expressiveness. It also reflects a struggle: digital as a topic has become a vast, terrific landscape dominating over our everyday lives. Even when approached from different angles, one easily becomes overwhelmed by the discourse surrounding it, its language being swung between utopian and dystopian tones. During the lecture, Kristi shared her personal experience of situating oneself within digital research and how situated knowledge can help in anchoring artistic practice.
Boris van den Eynden and Lieven Van Speybroeck captivated the audience with their presentation on a series of assignments focusing on the imagination of "electronic trainee devices". They discussed, for instance, a project where they converted the soundtrack of "The Perfect Human" by Jørgen Leth and employed AI to generate images, adding an intriguing layer to the artistic outcome. The approach resulted in dystopian, distorted images that prompted profound reflection regarding the potential of AI. Furthermore, the duo shared insights into a project where their students designed a book with the assistance of a custom-built AI program. This endeavor involved curating datasets from two artists and manipulating percentages on the spectrum to create a catalog. Overall, their presentation showcased the boundless creative possibilities that emerge when art intersects with technology and AI.
Janna Beck and Annelise Cerchedean launched their latest publication titled Framed. This flipbook, accompanied by a digital counterpart created by Frankie Frrrankie (ANH LE) and Kristí Fekete, was published by Track Report of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp. The book emerges as a collaborative outcome of various research projects, all of which converged to foster immersive experiences and promote public participation and interaction. While the publication endeavored to serve as a comprehensive culmination of these efforts, it humbly acknowledged the inherent challenge of fully encapsulating the breadth of the research. Conceived as a collective effort to remain in line with the overarching spirit of the research, the publication embodies collaborative synergy.
https://www.ap-arts.be/en/event/dimymydi-seminar-digital-literacy-art-education
