Welcome to the web portal of Art Machines: International Symposium on Computational Media Art to be held in Hong Kong in January 2019 at the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong. Art Machines is the first of what we hope to be regular ISCMA Conferences here at the School of Creative Media Hong Kong.
Our title, Art Machines references the core theme of our conference: Machine Learning and Media Art. Machine Learning is poised to transform the creation and analysis of art and media and this conference will provide the opportunity for an in-depth exploration of a rapidly evolving field. We especially welcome proposals on Machine Learning and Art to join those of our plenary panelists. Among the topics we will address:
- The role of intentionality in art that is governed by machine-learning algorithms
- Creative Coding vs Creative Use of machine-learning tools
- The aesthetic sources and precedents of machine learning software and creation
- Machine Learning and the future of media production
- The impact of machine learning on the analysis of art and media
- The impact of machine learning on archival practice
- The future of art in the age of machine learning
- Social and ideological implications of machine learning
Computation has now permeated every aspect of art and media creation and curation, transforming the character of sound and moving image practices, and yielding rich new forms of aesthetic experience that range from digital animation and interactive media, to procedural artworks. At the same time, one cannot ignore the role that algorithmic processes play in shaping the texture, organization, choices and actions we make in everyday life, in hitherto unimagined ways, and the social and ideological biases that inform these ostensibly neutral processes.
We seek to host a broad-based, rigorous interdisciplinary symposium, which encourages paper and proposal submissions on the whole range of computational media art practices and the expanded field of intangible and tangible media that they have given rise to. We strongly encourage interdisciplinary dialogue between scholars from different fields, such as film and media studies, art history, philosophy of technology, cultural studies, game studies, art and design, as well as between scholars and practitioners of computationally-based art and media.
In addition to our open-call conference panels, keynotes and plenary sessions on Machine Learning and Media Art, we will offer a special student-led workshop and exhibition space. Furthermore, coinciding with the conference itself will be a ground-breaking exhibition of New Media Art, curated by Dr. Linda Lai, at Hong Kong City Hall.
We invite you all to come and join us in January 2019, here in Hong Kong, in what is shaping up to be a conference that should not be missed!
Richard Allen, Dean, School of Creative Media
On behalf of the Conference Organizing Committee