Future Memory Lab 一 The First Generative AI Artistic Residency in South America !
“Future Memory Lab” is an artistic residency which reflects about worldbuilding through ancient, future and alternate temporalities, with critical and experimental approaches that invite collaboration between humans and machines.
A first in South America, the residency will result in two exhibitions showcasing the outcomes of this collaboration, one at the Migliorisi Foundation in Asunción, Paraguay, and the other at Pyxis Exploration Numérique in Lausanne, Switzerland.
At its core, technology is a testament to human innovation and ingenuity and serves as a catalyst for development of human life in relation to society, and the environment. But, what is technology beyond computational frameworks?
Binary code, which has been present in the wiring and circuitry of intergenerational computers, is the fundamental system of representing data with 0s and 1s. However, its historical legacy predates the era of computation: across different cultures and timelines, binary-like systems, analogous to those used in modern computing, have been employed for encoding and storing information.
In countries like Paraguay, traditional techniques like ceramics or the transcultural textile of ñandutí have historically been a space of resistance and worldbuilding for women in securing their autonomy. This is relevant, if we consider how the conversation about AI has popularized discussions about worldbuilding as a speculative space where ideas about the future are explored.
With the acceleration of technoscientific development in artificial intelligence, questions arise about the potential extinction or capture of technologies (Gebru and Torres, 2023) to analog, manual and embodied processes in the arts. Far from alarmist perspectives, we are interested in the potential through which AI collaborations can deploy instruments to collide multiple temporalities and regenerate communities and culture(s).
‘‘Future Memory Lab » is an artistic residency which reflects about worldbuilding through ancient, future and alternate temporalities, with critical and experimental approaches that invite collaboration between humans and machines, to expand and generate new creative possibilities.
一 How can analog traditions inform and enrich contemporary practices in AI and generative technology?
一 In what ways can AI contribute to the preservation and revitalization of traditional cultural and artistic practices?
一 How can intersectionality and decolonial epistemologies shape the development and application of generative technologies?
一 What role does AI play in imagining alternative futures and constructing possible worlds?
一 How can generative arts and AI expand our understanding of autonomy, agency, and creativity?
These questions are meant to be initiators and not confined ideas of what we’re looking for. We are interested in the contributions of artists, activists, technologists, writers, and a wide variety of cultural practitioners based in South America or Switzerland, whose work with generative models and large language models demonstrates an innovative approach and challenges accelerationist notions about technology, expands its meaning, or uses it to create new narratives.
The first phase of the residency includes an on-site meeting that involves a tour of various ceramic and textile production areas in Paraguay (Yataity, Aregua, Tobati) and commuting with local artists, artisans, and creative professionals.
The final outcome of the residency will conclude in two exhibitions, one at the Migliorisi Foundation, in Asunción, Paraguay, and an iteration at Pyxis Exploration Numérique, in Lausanne, Switzerland. We will be selecting two residents from Switzerland, two from Paraguay and two from South America.
Ilknur Demirkoparan (Zurich, Switzerland) is a Turkish-born American artist whose interdisciplinary practice spans painting, sculpture, installation, performance, and digital media. While her earlier work explores the bizarre and often baffling narratives of identity and otherness, her more recent practice explores Turkic material culture. Demirkoparan’s work has been included in the Berlin Biennial Art Wiki Project, Highways Performance Space and Gallery in Los Angeles, FAR Bazaar, Mark Borghi Fine Art, NY. Her writing appears in ASAP/j, FLAT Magazine, Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture. She has an MFA from California Institute of the Arts, and a BA from University of California, Riverside. Her awards include the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Max H. Gluck Foundation fellowships, and the Regional Arts and Culture Council grant. Demirkoparan is the cofounder of the MinEastry of Postcollapse Art and Culture.
Nicolas Dominguez (San Lorenzo, Paraguay) is a visual artist. Recent exhibitions include TecnoPoeticas at Cruce in Córdoba, Argentina, with the Visión Mbopi collective. In 2019, he participated in the Curitiba Biennial and a performance residency at the Pf2119 space in the same location. He has been part of the Project Room at the Texo Foundation, introducing advances in research on digital art in the Paraguayan context. They have created the cultural space Crudo, which focuses on performance, sound, and language experimentation. Currently, they’re is studying prototyping of interactive installations.
Lucas Lugarinho (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) holds a Master’s degree in Art Praxis from the Dutch Art Institute (DAI) (Netherlands, 2021-2023). He has had a solo exhibition at the Carrillo Gil Art Museum (Mexico City, 2021) and has also participated in group exhibitions at institutions such as SAVVY Contemporary in Berlin (2023) and the Museum of Contemporary Art of Monterrey (2023), being part of the CIFO Commissions Award in the Emerging Artist category. Additionally, he has contributed texts to magazines such as Terremoto (Mexico City, 2019) and A Palavra Solta (2023).
Lucila Quillahuaman (Cusco, Peru) is a Quechua architect and artist from Cusco. She studied architecture at the Universidad San Antonio Abad del Cusco (2008) and a Master’s in Cultural Heritage Management (2021). She is dedicated to artistic practice, architectural design, and research. She has received awards from the Diego Quispe Tito School of Fine Arts in Cusco (2016) and the Diego Quispe Tito University in Cusco (2018). She has completed an artistic residency at the Centro de las Artes del Valle Sagrado (2023) and exhibited her work at the Centro Cultural San Isidro in Lima, Peru.
Gonzague Rebetez (Lausanne, Switzerland) is a scientist specializing in light physics and bioelectronics. His academic journey has taken him from the University of Fribourg to the University of Bern, with stays abroad including at the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom). In 2022, he co-founded the interdisciplinary collective WÆXE, where he integrates his expertise in light, sensors, and algorithms into artistic creation. In collaboration with sound artist Timothée Verheij, he has built reactive acousmatic installations inspired by scientific concepts (Dreiviertel Kunstraum (BE), Swiss Museum of Electronic Music (FR)). With performance artist Izabela Orzelowska, he has presented shows and performances aiming to amplify dance and bring emotion to science (Zentralwäscherei (ZU), EPFL Pavilion (VD), TanzHaus (BE), Südpol (LU).
Mayeli Villalba (Asunción, Paraguay) is an Afro-Paraguayan visual artist, photographer, and audiovisual producer. Her work explores the intersections between racialization, territoriality, gender, ethnic identity, and memory. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, including at the International Biennial of Contemporary Art of the South (2021) and the Cultural Center of Spain Juan de Salazar (2021), among others. She has worked independently as a photographer for various international media outlets such as Reuters, The Guardian, and El País. Her work has been nominated for awards such as the National Geographic COVID Emergency Fund (2020) and the Dignity Awards (2021).
Kira Xonorika is an interdisciplinary artist, author and futurist. Their work explores the multidimensional connections between ancestry, temporality, world-building, restorative ecologies and magic. Kira’s work has notably been exhibited at the Ars Electronica Festival (Linz, Austria), Frieze (Seoul, South Korea), Ford Foundation Gallery (New York, USA), Vellum (Los Angeles, USA), Kampnagel (Hamburg, Germany) and Arebyte (London, UK). Kira has been a Supercollider LA SciArt Ambassador, an Ars Electronica State of the ART(ist) awardee, a resident at Dreaming Beyond AI, a Momus/Eyebeam Critical Writing Fellow, as well as an Outright Beijing +25 fellow.
Scientist and artist, Walla Capelobo holds a Master’s degree in Contemporary Art Studies from Universidade Federal Fluminense, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Her practice addresses the sensitive issues of her existence with the support of Afro-indigenous South American technologies, speculative ecologies, decolonization of the meanings of nature, radical imagination, queer ecologies and the understanding of soil as an archive of memory and anti-colonial fabulation. She has participated in residencies such as AI Anarchies at Junge Akademie, Akademie der Kunst (Berlin, Germany), LabVerde (Amazonia, Brazil), Matéria Abierta (Mexico City, Mexico), CACis (Barcelona, Spain), Pivô Arte e Pesquisa (São Paulo).
Claudia Casarino studied at the ISA of the National University of Asunción, then in New York and London. Her work adopts a conceptual viewpoint, reflecting on gender issues and body awareness, placed under tension by borders and forced transits. Her work focuses on interpreting the universe of women as a subject of social transformation.
She has participated in five editions of the MERCOSUR Biennial, as well as the biennials of Havana, Tijuana, Busan, Cuenca, Curitiba, Algeria, and Venice. Her work has also been exhibited, among other places, in Asunción, Santiago, São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Bogotá, Madrid, Barcelona, Milan, Amman, and London.
San Joserra is an artist and designer who explores various digital artistic domains and formats, focusing on the spatial and temporal possibilities offered by digital worlds. His work seeks to establish self-referential dialogues about the internet and its communities from a Latin American perspective.
He builds abstract worlds that express the issues inherent to these spaces and subjects, challenging the prevailing narratives and promoting more plural perspectives.
More recently, his work was exhibited at Mutek (Montreal, Canada), Sonar (Mexico City, Mexico), Spacy (Dallas, United States), Luminous Festival (Doha, Qatar), and Mira Festival (Barcelona, Spain).
The Migliorisi Foundation / Art Collections is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving, showcasing, and promoting works of art. Its exhibition programs have two main goals: enriching the local art community with high-quality offerings and fostering international artistic dialogues.
The Migliorisi Foundation aims to broaden the appreciation of heritage and contemporary visual practices with a diverse and inclusive approach. They seek to foster sensitivity towards art and provoke critical thinking about its complex nature, characterized by diversity and inclusion.
