Videocity 2023, technology at the service of art

The music, ethereal and pressing, vibrates strongly in the chest. Upturned nose, at the center of the G4 Gasometer, we see the images flow – extraordinary and exciting – that represent the earth and its elements: an impossible journey, which starts from the origin of the world and from the center of the planet to unfold its beauty and unique, unrepeatable charm. And to draw attention to the importance of preserving it.

It’s the magic of Mater Terrae, the site-specific immersive installation created by Sila Sveta, with original music by Mace, produced by Eni and curated by Videocittà. A touching tribute to the Earth which, in this 2023 edition, is at the center of the festival conceived by Francesco Rutelli and directed by Francesco Dobrovich: four days of talks, video art, DJ sets and live performances, from 13 to 16 July, which comes to life in the largest industrial archeology area in Europe: the ENI complex of the Ostiense Gazometer.

Raising imagination with AI

We are at the press preview of the 2023 edition of Videocittà, the festival conceived by Francesco Rutelli, with the creative direction of Francesco Dobrovich, which explores the most advanced forms of audiovisual and digital languages ​​in the national and international cultural context: an almost cool brings relief in the evening of this hot Roman summer. At the end of the performance, which lasts 7 minutes, the emotion is strong and it takes a few moments to return to the present. «In our company we do a lot of research and development, and we are always looking for new technologies and solutions to put our imagination into practice – explains Evgeny Mezhibovskiy, creative director of Sila Sveta – so, for this specific work, we have tried to overcome the boundaries by combining traditional computer graphics with artificial intelligence».

Introducing AI into the production chain actually changes the creative process: for example, because it takes time to train artificial intelligence, and why else to understand how to write the most appropriate prompt (the set of instructions) to obtain the result desired; and then, again, because despite all the precautions, AI often generates unexpected results, which influence the author and the work as a whole. It is new terrain, largely unexplored, into which the group of young creatives of Sila Sveta (average age 26) has ventured with enthusiasm: «This is not a commercial product, but a work of art – continues Mezhibovskiy – and this has allowed us to experiment a lot, get out of the comfort zone, to the point that 80% of what we see is the result of generative AI that we have trained, putting together a dedicated work group that has used LoRa », a “low-rank adaptation” technique that allows training Large Language Models with reduced time and costs.

A great movement of digital culture

Then when we ask Sila Sveta’s young creatives if there’s a risk that AI replaces their creativity, they laugh: it’s a problem that doesn’t exist – they say – a discourse that is made online because it’s trendy. For them, artificial intelligence is nothing more than a powerful creative tool, to be governed with awareness. And it is precisely for this reason, for the approach even before the technology used, that Mater Terrae becomes a precise example of what the Videocittà exhibition is today: «A catalyst for the great movement of digital culture – explains Francesco Dobrovich – through which we are creating an international community that finds a home here».

But what exactly is the digital culture that is staged at the Ostiense Gazometer? «It is what allows you to experience creativity and to inhabit the spaces that are created by it in a different, amplified way. When we talk about AI and new technologies – continues the artistic director of Videocittà – we must always think that there is someone’s creative leap behind it. Today we try to identify and tell who composes this quality content and what are the best practices to share with the community».

The idea

Writing a film together with generative AI: an exhibition to try

by Luca Indemini

23 June 2023

The “theater augmented” by 5G

Among the initiatives not to be missed in the context of the relationship between new media and digital creators, there is certainly The Jackal Meta show project: a live show created by The Jackal and Manuela Cacciamani’s Onemore Pictures, which combines technologies applied to the audiovisual and metaverse, streaming first July 14. “It is a project that was born thanks to the impulse of the Minister of Enterprise and Made in Italy, who wanted to demonstrate how 5G technology can be useful for the audiovisual and entertainment world”, explains Cacciamani, who for a year he is also president of the Unione Editori e Creators Digitali. «During the performance – he continues – The Jackal will act here at Videocittà alongside robots remotely operated by other actors connected from Frosinone. In all of this, the viewer who connects live will be able to choose which camera to follow the action from, as well as interact with the story influencing its development». A different and new way of understanding theatrical production, which in addition to offering an unprecedented result, sees for the first time the collaboration of different and usually distant professionals «Directors, authors and cast – confirms Manuela Cacciamani – had to dialogue with engineers, programmers and systems engineers who have put technology at the service of the author». In short, a real “augmented theatre”.

An (too) rich program

Impossible to report here the many appointments on the agenda: we limit ourselves to pointing out that MaterTerrae is not the only site-specific creation that we have seen in preview and that will be shown in the Gazometer area: the walls of the blast furnace will host a series of video contents – hypnotic and colorful – on the theme of Transition, created by None Collective, which will be the backdrop for the many Live shows and DJ sets planned over the four days of the programme. Meanwhile, on stage, among the many expected guests, there will also be the French electronic music duo The Blaze, the pioneer of house music and digital arts Dixon, the American transplanted in Berlin Lyra Pramuk, and for the Italians Bawrut, Ginevra Nervi , Bnkr44, Geneva and Elasi.

Great space for talks, with meetings coordinated by the journalist Alessandro Luna (relationship between information and new media), by the scholar of contemporary art applied to the media Nicolas Ballario (Entertainment and Video), and by the radio host, blogger and author Daniela Collu. The blast furnace will then also welcome Futura, a collective exhibition that brings together the most representative national and international artists of the panorama of digital art and contemporary motion graphics, while the Opificio 41 will host an audio-video Live Performance program. There is also room for video art, for example with the dedicated three-evening review curated by Damiana Leoni and Rä di Martino, or with the review of video works from the MAXXI Collection, which will be held in the late evening.