Artémon I – From Clay Tablets to AI

The first public event in our “Artémon” series looks at the revolutionary process of human communication through different lenses, be it artistic, archeological, academic or through practice, with talks and performances.

The history of human communication can be traced back to the earliest forms of written language, etched into clay tablets in ancient Mesopotamia over 5000 years ago. Over the centuries, we have seen the development of various writing systems and technologies, each one making communication faster, more efficient, and more accessible. 

Now, we are on the brink of a new stage in communication and information processing: artificial intelligence (AI)., with the potential to revolutionize the way we interact with information and each other. However, as we continue to develop AI, we must also ensure that it is used ethically and responsibly, that it serves the needs and interests of humanity as a whole and ensure that it is accessible to all, not just a privileged few.

Get your ticket here.
The ticket for the event is 6€ per person and a guest of their choosing, with proceeds going towards supporting the artistry of the next event.

PROGRAMME :
7:30 pm – Doors open

8 pm – Artist Talk by Tiara Roxanne: “The Grammar of Gathering”

8:30 pm – Archaeologist Talk by Yasser Showhan: “Clay Tablets as the First Means of Written Notation.“

9 pm – Interactive AI music by Bashar Al-Darwish

9:30 pm – Making Clay Tablets with the Audience

10 pm – Live Performance by Tiara Roxanne – “I can’t decolonize my body”

10:30 pm – Music and Open Bar

ABOUT THE ATELIER GARDENS *ARTS LAB:
*Arts Lab is a platform for artists to follow their inspirations, fantasies, and courage to pioneer their artforms in the public, engage with the audience and participate in public events – to pursue their artistic vision, explore new frontiers and encourage interdisciplinary collaboration and experimentation.

ABOUT artémon:
artémon is a series of Arts Lab events introducing the less-known spaces at Atelier Gardens, such as Keller 7, Halle 12, and Studio 2, exploring numerous possibilities of artistic interventions including performances and exhibitions. It will not only be an exploration of the intersections of the interdisciplinary arts but also of the space itself.

Artists are usually shy and hesitate in the beginning of experimenting or showing their artworks and the monster that stands behind. Each person can develop the artist inside themselves. Each artist has another artist inside. artémon is a support for artists to follow their inspirations, fantasies, and courage to pioneer their artforms in the public, engage with the audience and participate in public events. It provides the artists with the space and intellectual support they need to pursue their artistic vision and explore new frontiers and encourages interdisciplinary collaboration and experimentation.

Curated by Ayham Majid Agha.

ABOUT THE PARTICIPANTS:

Tiara Roxanne, is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at Data & Society in the Trustworthy Infrastructures research team, dedicated to establishing ethics of AI through an anti-colonial and cyberfeminist lens — developing protocols of trust and safety online with Indigenous communities based in Central and South America. As a performance artist and practitioner, they work between the digital and the material using textile.

Starting 8 pm, they will talk about “The Grammar of Gathering: CLAY”.

Roxanne will discuss attributes of archiving, more specifically through the grammar of gathering (as inspired by Fred Moten). In this short introductory talk, we will arrive at thinking about nuanced forms of archiving in the midst of the technological expansion of AI. Some questions Roxanne will ask in the provocation are: how does Indigenous cosmology inform our present and future relationship with artificial intelligence? how do we learn from Indigenous practices (without appropriating them) in order to cast a veil of understanding over and with AI? What does clay have to do with AI?

In their performance, “I cannot decolonize my body: CLAY”, taking place at 10 pm, Roxanne will scaffold their explorations with clay, the grammar of gathering, the digital border and earth in a performance that will ask participants in the room to encounter AI from nuanced perspectives. Roxanne asks all participants to bring a stone (large enough to fit in one’s palm) as an offering to encounter, to engage, to gaze, to breathe, to sit with, to tessellate.

Yasser Showhan, a Syrian archaeologist, specializes in the heritage of eastern Syria. With academic stations in the Department of Antiquities at the University of Damascus and the Mesopotamia Heritage Documentation Center. His current work is in archaeological studies and research around documentation of tangible and intangible heritage. Yasser will discuss “cuneiform writing”, a special type of historical source that was used in many ancient civilizations to record information and events.

His talk at 8:30 pm will be on “Clay Tablets, The First Means of Written Notation”. Yasser will discuss a special type of historical source that was used in many ancient civilizations to record information and events. This source is known as “cuneiform writing” and its contents include mathematics, literature, epics, poetry, stories, invocations, advice, and wisdom. In this lecture, he will demonstrate the role of the inscriptions in correcting some misconceptions of information circulating at the time and introduce various aspects of this type of historical evidence. This evening, together we will delve deeply into cuneiform writing and its various related aspects, as we explore this ancient script in greater depth.

Bashar Al-Darwish is a Berlin-based Syrian musician, guitarist, and electronic music artist. Currently, Bashar is an active member of the Berlin post-punk group “Janazir” and works under the name “Bababasha.” Blending techniques of field recordings, sound design into his work, he asks himself: “who holds the copyright to a piece of modern music? If it’s reworked, remade. Or even created from scratch using artificial intelligence? Will the concept of inspiration change in this context?”

He will perform AI music under the title “Exploring the Role of Artificial Intelligence in Music Creation: “For Whom?” Or “Lameen?”.

With a mind full of questions while creating my music piece. I had to ask myself who owns/holds the copyright to a piece of modern music. If it’s reworked, remade. Or even created from scratch using artificial intelligence? Will the concept of inspiration change in this context? 

As a follower of both experimental music that pushes boundaries and heavy music, I was motivated to make my own original rendition of the song “The Metal” by altering the chord sequence and using Ableton and an A.I plugin to incorporate the seventh and ninth notes. After that, I utilized the delay effect to add some craziness to the chord progression. Ultimately, I humanized the robotic process by using symphonic strings in a classical approach, but also by using the midi sound concept.

“This music performance aims to showcase Bashar’s first experiment in producing a musical piece using AI and its capabilities to push the limits of what is possible for an artist and make it touch the borders of the impossible. “Following this, he will participate in the Arts Lab in the near future to showcase and compare subsequent results with the original sounds and moments the work began with.”