CHALLENGES IN DESIGN

Dejan Grba

Incidental Reverberations: Poetic Similarities in AI Art

AI art comprises a range of practices that emerge from, and respond to, the creative and social implications of AI science, technology, and industry. With a history reaching back to the early 1970s, the range of these practices expanded in the mid-2010s by leveraging the affordance of deep learning architectures. AI art gained recognition thanks to the PR strategies of big tech companies, which include support for AI art research, production, and presentation. It has also benefited from the presence of AI in the media and popular culture and from the art market’s integration with the crypto economy. Evolving in a close relationship with AI science, technology, and industry, the poetics and implications of contemporary AI art have been affected by the cognitive, sociopolitical, and ethical problems in these fields. The identity of contemporary AI art is shaped and challenged by the technocentrism and homogenization of creative approaches, the expressive cogency, epistemic value, and social impact of the realized artworks, and the broader questions of monetization, legislation, cultural positioning, and educational support. My talk explores some of these issues through the lens of poetic similitudes that manifest as unacknowledged conceptual, thematic, narrative, procedural, and presentational parallels between AI- and referent artworks across the disciplinary and historical spectrum. These incidental reverberations belong to a corpus of intellectual blunders, methodological miscalculations, and ethical slippages whose unforeseen consequences are usually undesired by the artists but always instructive for their audience. Taking the well-informed autonomy of expression and the socially responsible freedom of creative thinking as the tenets of artmaking, my discussion interrelates selected experimental, tactical, and mainstream AI artworks whose similarities are symptomatic of the field and beyond. Poetic overlaps in the arts occasionally happen because of the spontaneous convergence of ideas or the cognitive requirements of production but frequently have less justifiable causes that place artmaking issues firmly within the contexts of human nature and existence and point to broader cultural ambiguities and societal tensions. They provide an invaluable perspective for studying the strengths and deficiencies of AI art and for articulating the critical discussion of art and creativity in general.

Dejan Grba is an artist, researcher, and scholar who explores the cognitive, technical, poetic, and relational aspects of emerging media arts. He has exhibited in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Australia and published papers in journals, conference proceedings, and books worldwide. In 2019/2020, Dejan was a Visiting Associate Professor in the School of Art Design and Media at the NTU in Singapore. He has served as a Co-founding Associate Professor with the Digital Art Program of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Center at the University of the Arts in Belgrade since 2005 and as a Founding Chair and Associate Professor with the New Media Department at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade from 1998 to 2020. He was a Guest Assistant Professor at the Computer Art Program in the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University in 2007. dejangrba.org

Marina Nenković-Riznić

Metaverse – A Powerful New Instrument for Urban Planning or Yet Another Unfulfilled Tech-Promise?

Pandemic and post-pandemic conditions left significant impacts not only on human life, but also in all of the aspects of human behavior, which consequently led to serious change in human communication. Often overlapping and interference of “real life“, and virtual, contactless communication influenced accelerated adaptation of people to rapid and immediate change of perspectives. This affected regular interaction among people, but also had consequences in different performance of duties such as scientific development in different fields, or any other development-oriented activities.
From that new adaptation, Metaverse was born, as immersive 3D environment in which people synchronously interact with others, and with representations of objects from the physical world. Metaverse enables interactions with digital environments and physical objects located in different places and enables individuals to interact with other people in remote locations.
Within the realm of urban planning, the emergence of the Metaverse has sparked both excitement and skepticism. Proponents argue that it possesses the transformative power to revolutionize the way cities are designed, managed, and experienced, while skeptics remain cautious, questioning its viability and potential to deliver tangible benefits.
This abstract aims to critically examine the Metaverse as a potent instrument for urban planning or yet another instance of unfulfilled technological promises. By analyzing the concept of the Metaverse and its fundamental principles, this study seeks to uncover its potential applications in urban planning, especially in the field of participation. It explores the integration of virtual and augmented realities, immersive technologies, and advanced data analytics to create interactive and participatory urban design experiences.
Ethical concerns regarding privacy, accessibility, and digital equity are addressed, acknowledging the potential for exacerbating existing social disparities. Additionally, technical constraints, economic feasibility, and the need for robust infrastructure are examined to assess the practicality of widespread Metaverse adoption in urban planning practices.
Through a comprehensive analysis, this paper aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of whether the Metaverse represents a truly powerful and transformative tool or merely another fleeting technological mirage in the landscape of urban development.

Marina is a Senior Research Associate in the Institute of Architecture and Urban & Spatial Planning of Serbia. Her research fields are spatial and urban planning, municipal solid waste management, location theory, methodology for SEA and EIA–multicriterial analysis and modelling approaches, resilient cities, location theory, application in GIS. Managed several national and international scientific projects (INTERREG, Horizon 2020). Participated and managed the preparation of planning, project and study documentation and SEA as a lead planner. Published more than 200 papers in national and international scientific journals and on conferences. As a co-author or author, she has won several awards and recognitions at international and domestic competitions and exhibitions. linkedin.com/mnenkovicriznic

Nikolas Patsavos

Modeling the Science of Human Settlements: 4 Episodes in the Evolution of Ekistics by Constantinos A. Doxiadis

This lecture presents the epistemological proposition of Constantinos A. Doxiadis, the prominent 1960s and ‘70s architect and planner, namely his Ekistics, in the light of four distinct facets of its interdisciplinary evolution. The four ‘episodes’ are thematically, instead of chronologically structured. In 1972, Konstantinos Doxiadis published “The Two-Headed Eagle”, that being the outcome of his lecture at the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Intending to synthesize data from a multitude of disciplines within the field of Human Settlements, Doxiadis uses a multitude of diagrams of varying scales. They are all based on the “ekistic grid”, a structural element of the language he developed in order to abstract all those data and evidence that will highlight the features and causes of the crisis on the one hand, and the elements of the solution on the other. In 1962 the first report of the research project “The Human Community” (HUCO), funded and organized by the Athens Technological Institute (ATI), the research arm of the Doxiadis Office (DA), was published. In collaboration with, among others, the British pioneer of computational applications in social research Christian Werner, HUCO has offered a valuable opportunity to bring together architectural thinking with the complex reality of the city. In 1968, having already completed six years of involvement with computers, Doxiadis Associates (DA) contacted the manufacturer of supercomputers UNIVAC, presenting a fully documented proposal for the installation and operation of the UNIVAC 1107 THIN FILM Memory Computer Complex. The establishment of UNIVAC, a parameter rarely mentioned in architectural literature, constitutes perhaps the central moment in the vision of a new holistic science of human settlements, Doxiadis’ Ekistics. In 1962, Yannis Papaioannou, a key collaborator of Constantinos Doxiadis, and the Athens Technological Institute (ATI), organizes the first electronic music competition for the Manos Hadjidakis Prize. Anestis Logothetis, the winner, proceeds directly to his musical score “DYNAPOLIS”, based on Doxiadis’ homonymous theory on the evolution of human settlements. The composer sends the score, written in his own original system of graphic notation, to the architect. He, like Doxiadis, proposes a new way of representation in order to integrate both sound and space into the compositional structure and the interpretation of the work by the musicians and the audience. In 1975, he would accompany his brother, the artist Stathis Logothetis, musically in the event “Correlations” in memory of the recently lost Doxiadis, at his house in the settlement of Apollonion, Athens.

Nikolas is an Associate Professor of Architecture at University of Ioannina, Greece. He is director of Critical Strategies Interdisciplinary Studio (CRISIS) and Vice Chair at Department of Architecture.

Milos Milovanovic

Designing with AI: Early impact of developing technologies on urban and architectural design

In the past two years, AI development has taken a fast pace in the sphere of visualization techniques resulting in a range of different models, most notable being Midjourney, DALL-E and Stable Diffusion. In architectural practice there were many individuals that explored the sphere of designing with AI, and in the past months this expanded to a range of companies whose practices are incorporating AI software to advance the design techniques which can be seen in a wide range of Autodesk and Adobe products and add-ons. This paper explores the possibilities of a controlled design and it’s meaning in architectural practice as well as less controlled results which have flooded the social media and imagination of many professionals and artists. Themes of meaning, repetition and semiotics in design are also beginning to emerge as dominant ones when symbiosis of AI software with drawing methods become popular worldwide and they can also offer a glimpse into understanding a future role of artificial intelligence in design practice.

Milos is a high-rise residential architect at Arcadis IBI Group, based in Calgary, Canada. Researcher and Assistant Professor at Union University – Nikola Tesla in Belgrade. He teaches courses related to urban planning, presentation techniques and project design on undergraduate studies. Participated in several exhibitions in Belgrade, Zagreb and Sarajevo. He was the winner of the “Project portfolio 33” competition and joined several conferences, most notable “On Architecture” and “Facing the Future”. In his research, he encompassed the theme of mythology in architecture and developed “RELATE – Learning elsewhere, learning otherwise” project with Marta Brković Dodig.

Jasna Jovićević

Soundscape of Female Experience
– Transdisciplinary Acoustic Ecology of Palić Lake

“Soundscape of Female Experience” is a site-specific transdisciplinary artistic work that is composed of the sounds of the natural and social environment of Lake Palić combined with the musical instrumentation and audio inserts from recorded testimonies of older female residents. Invited 40 senior women (60+) had the task to listen to the sounds of the locality (natural world, communal noise influenced by urban planning and tourism) through 8 organized group wellness walks by the lake that revive their memories and experiences in a social and ecological context. The composer and artistic researcher, Dr Jasna Jovicevic, recorded the walks ‘sounds, dislocated the acoustics of the landscape into a new sound space, and then integrated the seniors’ testimonies into a created instrumental composition. The musical audio story was performed live as a concert and recorded/published. The functional art project aims to raise questions and affirm solutions of infrastructural (urban) and environmental problems (water) recently appeared, but also to reconnect the local inhabitants with the nature and the urban history of the place, encouraging them to connect with nature, get socially engaged with a sense of belonging through eco-cultural activities within the community. The gender stereotypical role of senior women who witness the ecological, urban, social and political changes of the locality through contemporary artistic expression is explored from the perspective of feminist political ecology and acoustic ecology.
The project will be presented through a sound work, documentary film and texts. The project was supported by the Swiss government, within the “Culture for Democracy” project, which was litigated by the Haertefact Fund, and was co-financed by the Municipality of Subotica.

Good Morning, Jazzwomen

“Good Morning, Jazzwomen” is a monograph that investigates the positioning of the female instrumentalists in the transdisciplinary practices of jazz, in which Jasna Jovićević problematizes jazz as a musical and social practice. The goal of her research is to critically analyze and show the creation of identity as a socially constructed subject, that is, the representation and status of a female instrumentalist through the practices of different styles of jazz as an art form, but also as a cultural, historical and social space. The secondary goal is the mapping and introduction of artistic research in music as a young scientific-artistic discipline. This innovative discipline can serve as an open space for the positioning of the female researchers and artists in the field of music, where the author emphasizes autoethnography as the main research method. Presentation of a case study – artistic research in music, and the group interviews` analyses of the regional female musicians, show that the creation of gender identity in jazz occurs due to specific genre constructions, hegemonic canonization and representation of gender performative as a social strategy within a practice. As a result, female jazz instrumentalists face a multiple system of exclusion in jazz; by the double standard of social (patriarchal) patterns incorporated into the micro-context of the hegemonic genre of the dominant style of traditional jazz. The book will be introduced in a form of multimedia presentation – performance.

Dr Jasna Jovićević is a saxophonist, composer, and artistic researcher. She graduated from the “Franz Liszt” Academy of Music in Budapest with a major in Jazz Saxophone, Master’s degree in Musical Composition at the York University in Toronto, and a scientific doctorate in the field of Transdisciplinary Studies of Contemporary Arts at the Faculty of Media and Communications in Belgrade. She is engaged in artistic research in the field of contemporary and jazz music, often including site-specific soundscaping, acoustic research, and the investigation of interactive strategies within the music improvisation. She won several international awards for performance and composition, as well as for her pioneering work in the field of artistic research. She performed throughout Europe and North America, as a composer, soloist or a sidewoman. Jasna has released 6 albums of own original music, founded and led the regional all-female big band New Spark Jazz Orchestra, and published scientific works related to the artistic research in music. She is a lecturer, a yoga trainer, and leads educational and artistic projects in the “Artrust” Citizen Association, Subotica. jasnajovicevic.com

Carmelo Zapulla

Intelligence for Life

External Reference is a multidisciplinary studio whose purpose is to turn spaces into emotional experiences through architecture and design. Founded in 2007 by Ph.D. architect Carmelo Zappulla, the firm has carried out international projects in a wide variety of fields, including urban interventions, architecture, retail and hospitality, exhibition spaces, and products. The studio approaches all its projects with a focus on innovation and technological research, filled with a wide range of external inspirations, such as contemporary art, science, and philosophy. Its projects include the new NovaBocana waterfront in Barceloneta, the exhibition tour of the Spain Pavilion at ExpoDubai 2020, the WOW phygital marketplace in Madrid, gastronomic spaces such as the Alkimia restaurant, Casa Moritz and Penthouse by WOW, and the iconicPresentedby stores and corners in London, Paris, Dubai, Doha and Riyadh, among others. Also the widely recognized Pure Plants, one of the studio’s major ongoing artistic and research projects in the field of product design. externalreference.com

Stahl Stenslie

Artist, curator and researcher, specializing in experimental art, embodied experiences and disruptive technologies. Former professor in new media at The Academy of Media Arts, Cologne; The Oslo National Academy of The Arts; at Aalborg University (DK). Currently head of R&D at Arts for Young Audiences Norway. His research and practice focus on the art of the recently possible and disruptive design for emerging technologies. He has been exhibiting and lecturing at major international events (ISEA, DEAF, Ars Electronica, SIGGRAPH) and moderated symposiums like Ars Electronica (Next Sex), ArcArt and Oslo Lux. He is the editor of EE – Experimental Emerging Art magazine, has written numerous scientific articles and co-founded The Journal of Somaesthetics. His PhD on Touch and Technologies virtualtouch.wordpress.com.

Snežana Zlatković

Born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (1988), graduated from the Faculty of Architecture in Belgrade (2012) where she is currently pursuing her doctoral studies and working as an assistant at the Department of Architecture (since 2018). She has worked as a designer in various architectural offices (since 2014). Her PhD research is focused on drawing as a methodological tool for reading the urban landscape. She founded the studio sz.dar (Drawing Architecture Research, 2017) with the aim to explore drawing through theoretical and artistic work. Her drawings were selected and published in Drawing Futures Book (The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, 2016) as well as awarded at Drawing of the Year (2016), RIBA Eye Line Drawing Competition (2017), STRAND (2016, 2018, 2020), INDEF (2020), Salon of Architecture (2020, 2021), My Cityscape Competition (2021), Collector’s Vision International Art Award (2021), Meta-City (2022), Call for Drawings (2023), etc. Representing Serbia at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2021, as a team member of eight architects(MuBGD). They were awarded the “Ranko Radović” Awards (2020, 2021), STRAND (2021).

Branko Kolarevic

Branko Kolarevic is a professor and former dean of the Hillier College of Architecture and Design at NJIT in Newark. He has taught architecture at several universities in North America and Asia and has lectured worldwide on the use of digital technologies in design and production. He has authored, edited or co-edited several books, including “Mass Customization and Design Democratization” (with Jose Duarte), “Building Dynamics: Exploring Architecture of Change” (with Vera Parlac), “Manufacturing Material Effects” (with Kevin Klinger), “Performative Architecture” (with Ali Malkawi) and “Architecture in the Digital Age.” He was elected and served as president of several organizations: Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA), Canadian Architectural Certification Board (CACB), and Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA). He is a recipient of the ACADIA Award for Innovative Research in 2007 and ACADIA Society Award of Excellence in 2015. He holds doctoral and master’s degrees in design from Harvard University and a diploma engineer in architecture degree from the University of Belgrade.