“THiNK 2024” DIGITAL CULTURE FESTIVAL
“It’s all in your head! Artificial intelligence needs yours!”. This is the slogan of the 4th edition of THiNK Festival of Digital Culture, scheduled from 10 to 12 May in Figline and Incisa Valdarno (near to Florence, Italy). A way to reiterate (as already happened last year) and to make a need even more evident: Artificial Intelligence must be a tool to support (and not replace) human work.
THiNK is an invitation to embrace digital in a conscious way, with workshops, laboratories, digital experiences, gaming tournaments and everything that is innovation.
It is a compass to orient yourself in a new world and acquire useful skills in everyday life, both online and offline.
THiNK is a festival that reaches its fourth edition from 10 to 12 May 2024: it promotes digital culture, because the difference is always in the way we interact with technological tools, in the use we make of them, in the problems that help us to overcome and in the dreams that allow us to realize. The 2024 edition will have INTELLIGENCES as its main theme.
A word that we like to decline in the plural, because we believe that artificial intelligence – a topic that will also be widely addressed in the festival – is made up of many other intelligences (emotional, creative, logical, linguistic) that must be researched and developed in communities that we believe in.
THE WINGS OF THiNK
On the occasion of the Festival of Digital Culture “THiNK 2024”, the Municipality of Figline e Incisa Valdarno decided to create a connection with Artivive and create a “selfie wall” for the event.
The image printed on the 2 by 2 meter selfie wall was created with a series of image generations using Generative Artificial Intelligence.
Augmented Reality has been added to this.
The animation works when the person stands in front of the selfie wall; by framing the image with the Artivive application, the wings with the colors of THiNK 2024 come alongside the person and come to life and begin to move.
It is then possible to record a video to share on social media via the Artivive app, with the selfie wall background portraying an infinite interstellar world and the person flying inside the technology. All this thanks to Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality (and creativity!).
Technical notes on selfie wall “THiNK 2024”
Selfie wall title: “THINK 2024”
Artist: CECILIA LASCIALFARI
GenAI image software: MJ6 ALPHA
GenAI sound software: UDIOAI
Graphics software: ADOBE COLLECTION 2024
Year: MAY 2024
In this case the software used is Midjourney (version 6 Alpha) and for the audio the software used is Udioai.
The generation of images with AI software occurs very simply but it is only the continuous processing of the image through the software and the subsequent processing with digital tools (such as Photoshop, After Effects…) that leads the artist to achieve the final result.
The project was entrusted to the Italian artist Cecilia Lascialfari, who lives in Florence, but she travels all over the world always looking for new ideas and connections.
Cecilia Lascialfari, speaker and researcher in the AI field, exhibited her work in April 2024 in a collateral event of the Venice Biennal 2024 (created with a mix of analogue, digital art and Artificial Intelligence) and will be present in person at the Festival della Cultura Digitale “THiNK 2024”, Saturday 11 May to answer all questions about the THiNK 2024 selfie wall, and how it is possible to bring together AI, Art and Creativity, through analogue and digital art.
ARTIVIVE
Artivive was founded by Sergiu Ardelean and Codin Popescu in January 2017 in Vienna, Austria.
Artivive is an AR tool that allows artists to create new dimensions of art by connecting classical and digital art. The digital layer opens the door to a whole new world of possibilities.
Artists can take visitors on a journey through time, explain what lies beyond their painting, enhance the art with animations or show how the artworks were made.
Over 380.000 creatives around the world are making art with Artivive in 190 different countries.
For museums, exhibitions, galleries and other art institutions Artivive offers a new and innovative way to allow the public to interact with exhibitions.
Visitors only need to use their smartphone or tablet to experience the augmented reality layer.
Check out Artivive website: https://artivive.com/ and the case studies to see collaborations from around the world on YouTube.
#bringArtToLife #Artivive
THE LOCATION
Scientific coordination THiNK Festival:
Samuele Venturi (Comune FIV), Davide De Crescenzo (intoscana.it), Francesco Di Costanzo (Pa Social), Agnese Fedeli (Firenze Smart), Gilberto Tellan (Digital Change), Gianluca Torrini (SoWhat).
This edition’s of the THiNK 2024, there are five locations (Marsilio Ficino Library, Villa Casagrande, Garibaldi Municipal Theatre, Palazzo Pretorio and Piazza Ficino, which this year plays a leading role) are ready to host a wide range of attractions and workshops, which will have the common thread is new technologies. But there’s more.
Thanks to the collaboration with Unicoop Firenze, sponsor of the event, Legno, the Italian indie-pop musical duo formed in Tuscany in 2018, will perform in concert on Saturday 11 May at the Teatro Garibaldi. The concert will be free for all those under 30 who by on Wednesday 8 May they will register on the coopfi.info/legno website.
A BIG THANKS TO…
A big THANKS to the organizers of the THiNK Festival, Gianna Mancini, Samuele Venturi, Sonia Muraca, Gianluca Torrini who were able to think outside the box to create a connection with Austria and with Artivive. And thanks to the Artivive team: Karin Gutmaher, Sergiu Ardelean, Codin Popescu, and finally Dalila Cataldi, without which this project would not have been possible!
Thank you also to Giulia Eremita, who invited me as a speaker to talk about Generative AI in October 2023 at the BTO in Florence.
Finally, a last important thank you to Giuliano Fontanelli, Creative Design, Product Design, Creative Thinking, Design Thinking, 3D layout, Electric Vehicles Start Up Venturer, for supporting me at all times!!!
A LITTLE TESTIMONY ON THIS ARTWORK
I leave you with a direct testimony of the work done for the selfie wall by Cecilia Lascialfari.
How can AI be applied in everyday life? Well, in the artistic/creative field, I can show you something… Thanks to the collaboration I have had with Artivive for over a year now, and thanks to a talk given at the BTO in Florence in October 2023, I met Samuele Venturi e Gianna Mancini, the organizers of the Think – Festival della Cultura Digitale (Festival of Digital Culture) of Figline and Incisa Valdarno, near to Florence, in Italy.
And what happens when an artist combines Generative AI with the Augmented Reality of Artivive?
That you can try supersonic AR animations!
I am super happy to present the “THiNK 2024” project to you!!!
“THiNK 2024” is an image created with the Gen. AI of Midjourney 6 Alpha. The idea was to animate wings.
So I asked MJ6 to generate me some special wings that could have the colors of the THiNK Festival.
I worked on them with Adobe Collection, cutting them out and reconstructing all the bones and spending days and nights trying to understand the eagle’s flight…
I animated feathers after feathers after feathers… I made some mistakes and I started again.
I insistently wanted these wings to be fluid.
And thanks to the support of a great friend (who I absolutely must mention for your support!!!), Giuliano Fontanelli (I can finally declare that I am in a team with him!) in direct contact between Florence (Italy) and UK (he is a super professional animator connect with him and look at the amazing things he does!) I managed to create this wonderful performance for the THiNK Festival which will be held on May 10-11-12 in Figline Valdarno center… (…)
Cecilia is also an artist, photographer, videomaker, community manager and International Journalist. She is the organizer of AWE Nite Florence and she is the Italian Representative for Artivive.
Cecilia is a member of the Italian Association for Artificial Intelligence (AIxIA is a member of the EurAI/ECCAI) which includes professionals from the most important research institutions and Italian universities.
Cecilia created a project called “Flying Into The Metaverse Through Books & Culture”, which is a series of interviews with the most important professionals in the XR field and manages an online Journal called ARea6DoF, registered to the Italian Court, where she writes the articles about the different topics she is concerned with.