Regine Rørstad TORBJØRNSEN

Presenting with Heidi KARLSEN reginerorstad@gmail.com

Regine Rørstad Torbjørnsen holds a MA in philosophy from the Humboldt University of Berlin, where she graduated with a thesis on empathy in audiovisual online environments. She currently works at the Centre for Ibsen Studies (University of Oslo) in the field of digital humanities.

Philosophizing on philosophizing in the digital social sphere

With the digitalisation of society new forms of sociality arise and manifest themselves. These new forms affect and challenge human interaction, and so we are called upon to analyse their social consequences and explore their unique opportunities. This presentation discusses the effects and dimensions of digitalized human interaction, using online philosophical dialogues as an example.

After briefly introducing the concept of philosophical practice, we look more closely at two kinds of digital environment in which such dialogues can be realized. First, we address video-meetings and their influence on bodily interaction, and thus on social cognitive processes like mutual awareness. The discussion will be based on insights from empirical research on online therapy and online interaction, in addition to insights from the field of philosophical practice. We then explore the possibility of philosophical dialogue in virtual reality (VR), and discuss possible social implications inspired by the literature on VR platforms.

Against this background, we pose the following question: Should we always strive to adapt digital social spheres as much as possible to traditional human interaction? Here we first elaborate on arguments for and against such a strategy; subsequently, we appeal to the unique creative potential of digital social spaces and argue that adapting them to traditional human interaction would mean a) feeding into the misconception that digital spaces can truly replace physical ones, and b) ignoring the unique possibilities of digital social spheres, such as the opportunity to shape one’s own communicative landscapes actively.

Violeta VASILEVA

violeta.vasileva@artshare.pt

Dr Violeta Vasileva is a technology & art-driven innovation consultant with expertise in business transformation and innovation. With a PhD in Cyberawareness and a Master’s degree in Business Intelligence, she creates collaborative networks among scientists, engineers, artists, and researchers to address social issues, human needs, and business goals. Her focus is on developing next-generation internet and new media solutions that promote trustworthy AI, cyber awareness, and innovative problem-solving approaches. Violeta has implemented various technological and innovation projects, particularly in the areas of deeptech, VR/ AR, and XR. She fosters collaborations across disciplines that drive innovation and positive change within business and society.

Art and AI: unpacking the complexities of truth and reality in the digital space

The topic of this presentation falls within the context of the EU-funded initiative MediaVerse (https://mediaverse-project.eu/), coauthored with Luis Miguel Girão, which brings together technology developers, social researchers, media publishers, artists, and other stakeholders. The project’s main goal is to help all sorts of creators produce and share state-of-the-art media with the latest available tools in AR/VR, AR and 360° content creation – while allowing them to keep control of their intellectual property rights. MediaVerse is focused on the development of automated processes that can help media professionals and general media users improve their performance. Within the context of this project, Artshare has been exploring the interaction between AI and humans in a series of artistic experiments. The goal of these experiments is to question our sense of truth and reality. The rise of artificial intelligence has made it possible to manipulate and fake information in unprecedented ways. Due to the increasing capabilities of AI, it has become apparent that both audio and video are threatened by this technology. People are unsure of what to believe. Simultaneously, we are revolutionizing what we know about how our brains and emotions function as individuals experiment with different forms of control.

Artshare’s artistic experiments examine the various themes surrounding the concept of truth on social media, such as how bots have become a part of the conversation and the rise of digital image transformations. They also look into how user-driven systems can have a significant impact on the construction of truth. Through these artistic projects, both the public and content-creators are able to participate in the exploration of the various technological advances taking place in the world of content-creation and address the questions of the ownership and reality of digital content.

Ricarda

Presenting with Madeleine CAMPBELL ricarda.vidal@kcl.ac.uk

Workshop

Ricarda Vidal is senior lecturer in cultural studies at King’s College London. She is also a translator, curator and text-maker. Together with Madeleine Campbell she leads the AHRC-funded international Experiential Translation Network. With Manuela Perteghella she curated the multilingual poetry translation project ‘Talking Transformations: Home on the Move’ and with artist Sam Treadaway she runs the book-work collaboration Revolve:R. Recent publications include Translating across Sensory and Linguistic Borders (Palgrave 2019) and Home on the Move: Two poems go on a journey (Parthian, 2019).

Digital Translations of Anna Blume – are algorithms creative?

Since 2021 we have collected, created and co-produced translations of Kurt Schwitters’ iconic poem ‘An Anna Blume’ (1919, 1921, …) in different media, including film collage, paper collage, words in various languages, performance and most recently a ‘Gesamttranslation’, or ‘total translation’ (including people and objects). The aim of these multiple translations was to demonstrate the experiential qualities of translation by shining a spotlight on the multiple senses involved in communication per se.

Truman (2016) argues that arts-based methods stimulate a different way of knowing, asking us to think about how writing (or painting, dancing, drawing) does, rather than what it means. Similarly, experiential translation, with its focus on the process rather than the product, the methods of poetry, performance and visual expression, appears an appropriate way to ‘know’ the many multilingual and multimodal versions of ‘An Anna Blume’. Truman writes about creative writing as researchcreation, but what she says about the perpetually unfinished process of writing and reading resonates with Walter Benjamin’s notion of the ‘Fortleben’, the ‘living on’ of the text in translation. Quoting McCormack she points to the perpetual presence of the event(s) that gave rise to the creative text ‘not as image or recollection, but as a kind of field of virtual potential that never quite exhausts itself in the process of becoming more than it never (actually) was’ (McCormack, 2008).

In this workshop we want to explore whether the algorithms that power digital tools such as chatbots, PowerPoint’s auto-design function or Google Picture Translate can be a creative partner in the creation of new experiential translations. We will examine the arts-informed, transformational praxes of translation and retranslation, as manifested in both lingual and multimodal forms, before guiding workshop participants through a series of translation-creation activities using digital tools. The workshop is interactive and exploratory and will culminate in an open-ended discussion. Conference delegates may participate in person or online.

Dr Deborah Wright is a psychotherapist (BPC, FPC, MBACP) and a lecturer (PG CHEP FHEA) in the Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex, where she is Programme Director of the Clinical Professional Doctorate Programmes and teaches on the clinical training. She is a trained artist and her art-work and academic research relate to humans’ relationships with their environment – rooms, places and spaces. Her new book, The Physical and Virtual Space of the Consulting Room: Room-object Spaces (2022), introduces and exemplifies her theoretical constructs on room spaces both physical and virtual.

Digital pedagogical creativity: an online Higher Education Student enrichment club model to support students

In March 2020 the UK COVID-19 pandemic lock down meant that all Higher Education moved online. This was a time of enormous pedagogical experimentation with digital media and spaces to create different learning environments while at the same time there was a need to protect the students’ learning from the impact of the covid experience. In the Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic studies at the University of Essex, I created the PA123 Club - a student enrichment club to support the students’ experience and learning. This presentation will track the creation and development of the club from 2020 till now (mid-2023), and the theoretical constructs that both informed and emerged from my playing around with the digital space, which is still an ongoing process. I will present and discuss, for the first time, data from my 2022 pedagogical research project on the PA123 Club. These data show that the club increased the students’ sense of belonging to their course, department and university, enhanced their subject knowledge, and increased their confidence in learning. The new post-covid hybrid or dual-delivery teaching landscape continues to be a pioneering space where pedagogical developments continue. My pedagogical theoretical approach is influenced by two pedagogical theories by Alan Mortiboys – ‘Active Learning’ and ‘Teaching with emotional intelligence’ (2005). This virtual-space ‘active learning’ is informed by my own theoretical construct, created through my clinical research work in my psychotherapy practice of the ‘Room-object Spatial Matrix’ (Wright 2022). This can provide a way of thinking about ‘spatialisation’ and spatialised elements in the virtual digital space enabling a containing, supportive learning space. This presentation will be of interest to higher-education practitioners, clinicians, teachers and educational practitioners, and everyone running, supporting, exploring and using digital spaces and involved in online meetings and groups.