Mon 8th July, 9am–4:30pm
The Air of Turbulence is a day of debates, conversations and participatory sessions exploring ideas of digital heritage, future histories and voices in the context of the Cloud, ownership, power and control.
Conference Suite
Science and Industry Museum
Liverpool Road
Manchester, M3 4FP
Book tickets or Download the Full Programme
Taking Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s Atmospheric Memory and its inspiration from Charles Babbage as a starting point, The Air of Turbulence brings together artists, researchers, technologists, scientists and other participants to debate and unravel emerging technological advances and challenges looking through the past, present and future.
From technological histories to machine learning, facial and voice recognition, and their implications, how do historical ideas and inventions relate to emerging digital technologies, and how can we survive a future increasingly driven by algorithms? The Air of Turbulence will also explore the traces left on the environment as we rely more and more on digital communications technologies and cloud computing, and continue to accumulate vast amounts of data.
Speakers include Atmospheric Memory artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, curator José Luis de Vicente, artists Katriona Beales and Anna Ridler, Dr Sarah Mander, Senior research Fellow, Tyndall Manchester Climate Change Research, William Tunstall-Pedoe, entrepreneur and founder of Evi and many more.
The day will conclude with an optional walking tour, limited tickets will be available.
9.00 | Registration and refreshments
9:30 | Welcome note
Irini Papadimitriou, Creative Director, FutureEverything
9:50 | A Brief History of Atmospheric Memory
José Luis de Vicente, Curator, FutureEverything
10:00 | Keynote: Rafael Lozano-Hemmer
Artist, Atmospheric Memory
11:00 | Panel: Digital Heritage and Future Voices
A conversation about bias, digital inclusion, control and the implications of machine learning and training data sets.
Speakers: Anna Ridler(artist), Sam Burton (Director of Insights, Mozilla Foundation) and Marcus Hadfield (Chief Strategy Officer, Apadmi).
Chaired by Dr David Jackson (Researcher in Narrative and AI, School of Digital Arts, Manchester Metropolitan University).
12:00 | Short break
12:10 | Participatory session: A critical exploration of voice technologies
Interactive session on collectively exploring and mapping bias and oppressive systems embodied in technology today.
Led by Elvia Vasconcelos (Design Researcher)
13.30 | Lunch break
14:30 | In Conversation: Unintended Consequences
Artist Katriona Beales in conversation with William Tunstall-Pedoe, entrepreneur and founder of Evi (now Amazon Alexa), exploring questions of social justice, rising inequality and accountability in relation to the development of AI.
15:30 | Panel: Environmental Memory
On data, cloud computing and the material impact of digital communications technologies.
Speakers: Dr Sarah Mander (Senior Researcher, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research), Vladan Joler (Director at Share Foundation and chair of New Media department, University of Novi Sad, Serbia) and Joana Moll (artist).
Chaired by:José Luis de Vicente (Curator, FutureEverything)
16.30 | Closing note
17.00 | Optional walking tour – pre-booking required, first come first served basis
*Please note: timings may be subject to change.*
Future Sessions: Atmospheric Memory is curated and produced by FutureEverything, in partnership with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA).
