Our panels will introduce new methodologies, new projects and the challenges they face, critical voices, and an opportunity to work together in the mode of impossibility.
The summit is intended for practitioners, scholars, filmmakers, and anyone who is curious about how new technologies are shaping nonfiction media practice and our world.
Please join us on Sunday 16 June, 2024 for a chance to meet new colleagues and think together!
Welcome Remarks
Sun 16 Jun, 11:00-11:30
The organisers of this year’s Alternate Realities summit will welcome you to the space and tune us up with each other.
Speakers: Raul Niño Zambrano (Creative Director, Sheffield DocFest), Abby Sun (Alternate Realities Consultant, IDA), Keisha Knight (Alternate Realities Consultant, IDA)
Keynote Speech: Jiabao Li
Sun 16 Jun, 11:30 - 12:15
This keynote will sit at the intersection of technology and humanity in order to explore the contours and conditions, the stakes, of immersive media practice. Expanding on her project Nocturnal Fugue (with Matt McCorkle), which is showcased in the Alternate Realities exhibition, artist and technologist Jiabao Li will offer insights from her interspecies collaborations in a practice that spans wearables, AR/VR, video installation, performance lectures, and scientific experiments.
Speaker: Jiabao Li (Artist, Creative Technologist and Assistant Professor)
Incorporating AI in Documentary
Sun 16 Jun, 12:30 - 13:30
New generative AI tools have made headlines for their supposed ease of use, ability to create visual materials beyond the confines of an archive, and to help protect the identities of protagonists. But how much of this is true? In this session, experts will probe the challenges and opportunities of incorporating AI into nonfiction practice.
Speakers: Jorge Caballero (Filmmaker and Researcher), Anna Giralt (Filmmaker and Researcher), Eva Kozanecka (Filmmaker and Head of Artists + Machine Intelligence Program, Google), Bálint Révész (Director and Creative Producer), Deniz Tortum (Filmmaker and New Media Artist).
Snacks, Chat, and Prototype Play
Sun 16 Jun, 13:30 - 14:15
Take a break, chat with new friends, and experience some of the Prototypes you’ll learn about in the afternoon session.
Sponsored by Innovate UK
Prototype Panel
Sun 16 Jun, 14:15 - 15:30
Every project has a unique origins story and path to completion. In this panel we’ll learn about four immersive projects in development, the different approaches to funding each team is exploring, and the different challenges they face.
Chair: Lisa Brook (Creative Technology Relationship Manager, British Council)
Speakers: Kidus Hailesilassie (Visual Artist), Ainslee Alem Robson (Visual Artist), Lujain Ibrahim (Artist), Marcin Gawin (Artist), Luke Kemp (Curator & Co-Head of Barbican Immersive and UAL AKO Storytelling Lab Fellow), Caroline Sinders (Critical Designer, Researcher, Artist and UAL AKO Storytelling Lab Fellow), Mushiva (Researcher and Decolonial Technologist).
Impossible Projects: Working Session with the Institute of Decolonial Technologies
Sun 16 Jun, 15:45 - 17:45
The Institute of Decolonial Technologies is dedicated to the generation of impossible projects. Drawing upon the themes and technologies explored during the summit we will loiter together and dream up a new collection of impossibility.
Chairs: Abby Sun (Alternate Realities Consultant, IDA), Keisha Knight (Alternate Realities Consultant, IDA)
Speakers: Greg de Cuir Jr. (Co-founder + Artistic Director, Kinopravda Institute), Grayson Earle (Artist), Zinha Morgan-Bennett (Filmmaker and Programmer), Mushiva (Researcher and Decolonial Technologist).
Nonlinear Closing Remarks
Sun 16 Jun, 17:45 - 18:00
We will celebrate the end of the summit before our drinks reception begins!
Speakers: Abby Sun (Alternate Realities Consultant, IDA), Keisha Knight (Alternate Realities Consultant, IDA)
Mingling
Sun 16 Jun, 18:00 - 19:00
Grab a drink, mingle and decompress. You can even play with the prototypes some more or sneak away for a quick bite to eat before the final performance.
Sponsored by International Documentary Association
Distant Feeler Performance + Artist Q&A
Sun 16 Jun, 20:00 - 21:00
Between 1977 and 1997 artist duo Goliatus and Carabida experimented (in extreme and various ways) to create a telepathic cinema. The Distant Feeler is a contraption created by the artists. Although not a true replica of the original, the machine allows the original slides to be shown to new audiences and the experiment to continue.
Chair: Greg de Cuir Jr. (Co-founder + Artistic Director, Kinopravda Institute)
Speakers: Anja Dornieden (Artist), Juan David González Monroy (Artist)
Delegates will need to book their tickets to Distant Feeler Performance separately to their AR Summit ticket, please find the performance listed in the Alternate Realities Programme guide.
Summit ticket holders (non-delegates) will have their ticket to Distant Feeler Performance automatically included with their AR Summit ticket.