Towards an Automated Art? Learning Machines, Human Creativity and Uncertainty.

Cultural production is becoming progressively controlled by machine-made calculations. Computational tools in the form of algorithms and AI seem to be getting closer to the loop of producing, distributing, selling and validating artworks in a completely digital context. It is possible to predict that, in the near future, they will be able to make their own decisions and produce new creative forms without direct human hand intervention. The arrival of an entire synthetic creative system is drawing nigh.
While images abound and never-ending streams of data are becoming unachievable for humans, the need for reflection is more urgent than ever. The predominant discourse has naturalised technology as neutral and unstoppable, favourable to all. Nevertheless, art might feature there not as a blind ally of technology, but as a necessary counterpart, a means of reflecting on the need and direction of its benefits through its use.
The widespread use of software tools and apps makes us dependent on our trust in technology while interacting with the real physical world. The search engines guide us in our navigation of the Internet, its platforms and databases, making things visible in the virtual digital world. How are they programmed? By whom? To see what?
Are we finally entering a new art ecosystem where artists are as replaceable as images? Are we becoming immersed in a new mechanized and financialized art system where artworks can be rapidly produced, consumed and wasted? Can human creativity survive in this context? Can machines really learn how to make art?

This one-day conference aims to provide a space for interdisciplinary discussion, bringing together different perspectives on the interaction between creative practices and digital technologies, with a particular emphasis on the still uncertain impact of AI on contemporary arts.

We invite scholars, independent researchers, digital media experts, curators and artists to submit proposals for a 15-minute in-person presentation, focusing on one or more of the following topics:

- Automation of Creative Practices
- Machine Learning and AI in Art, Design and Architecture
​- Generative and Algorithmic Art & Design​
- Computational Creative Practices
- Web-based Art
- Extended Reality in Art and Exhibition Spaces
- Virtual Museums and Galleries
- Digital Aesthetics
- Art Interfaces
- New Media Art History
- New Media Art Preservation
- Media Archaeology

The proposals should include:
- Title of the proposal;
- Author's identification (name, institutional affiliation, country and e-mail);
- Conference topics and 3 to 5 keywords.
- Extended abstract (700 - 1000 words)
- 1 or 2 images (optional)
- References (up to 8). According to Harvard Style.
Short bio (up to 150 words).

Proposals must be sent in PDF format by e-mail to:
towardsanautomatedartgmail.com

Selection process:
Proposals can be submitted until 22 March, 2024
Proposals will be checked through a double peer review process by the Scientific Committee.
The note of acceptance will be sent by 15 April, 2024.
A selection of the conference papers will be included in an edited e-book, to be published in Autumn 2024 by the Institute of Art History, School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa.
The detailed instructions for the publication of the full papers will be sent directly to the selected authors.

The Scientific Coordination of the event is led by Luis D. Rivero-Moreno (Universidad de León, Spain & IHA-NOVA FCSH / IN2PAST, Portugal) and Helena Barranha (Insitituto Técnico Superior, Universidade de Lisboa & IHA-NOVA FCSH / IN2PAST, Portugal)

This conference is a collaboration between Institute of Art History, School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Universidad de León (Spain): Instituto de Humanismo y Tradición Clásica and Grupo de Investigación de Estudios Literarios y Comparados. Insólito, Género y Humanidades Digitales; Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa; and Museu Zer0, Tavira.