Open LAB#03 Synthetic Minds

The OpenLAB#03 event constitutes the culmination of the LAB#03 Synthetic Minds of Medialab Matadero; a research and production laboratory that Medialab has deployed between 2023 and 2024 as part of its new programming, which has brought together more than 50 researchers from very diverse backgrounds and disciplines to develop collective projects on artificial intelligence and complex systems.

What is intelligence? In a time defined by the revolution in machine learning, data mining, machine vision, and so called artificial intelligence technologies, our enquiry must go beyond the purely technological, to the very essence of the concept of 'intelligence': how does intelligence materialise in non-human or even non-biological forms, and how do these forms challenge our perception of the world and our own agency within it?
 

Over the last six months, in collaboration with a broad interdisciplinary community of artists, citizens, and experts, Medialab Matadero has explored the core ontology of intelligence itself, intertwined with the planetary potential nestled within its reconceptualization. We abandon the anthropocentric notion of intelligence to understand it as an intrinsic property of complex systems, being ours just one among many others that operate simultaneously and interdependently on multiple scales and forms –from neural networks or ant colonies up to vast distributed intelligences operating within natural ecosystems or financial markets.

But what role do we, as humans, assume in this expansive cognitive landscape? Are we mere passive components in this apparatus of multi-layered intelligence or do we have some agency within its interplay? Among the most pressing issues in the coming decades will be to unfold our ability to function as a mediating agent among these various forms of intelligence.

Distributed cognition, cybernetics, non-human intelligences,  AGI, complex systems, alien semiotics... welcome to OpenLAB#03 Synthetic Minds: two intensive critical sessions of conferences, screenings, artistic performances, and interdisciplinary projects to explore the role that the deliberate composition of intelligent systems will play in shaping our collective future.

LOCATION

Casa del Lector Auditorium

Admission is free until full capacity is reached.

PROGRAMME