Can Artificial Intelligence Create A Work Of Art? The Patchlab Festival 2018

The Patchlab Digital Art Festival organised by Photon Foundation, is an annual event of the latest technologies and new media art held in Krakow. The leitmotiv of this year’s edition were ‘Artbots’. The organisers and the creators asked the question: Can artificial intelligence create a work of art? For instance, the visitors had a chance to meet five robots who took the role of artists and paint the portraits of the visitors (Patrick Tresset’s installation “Human Study”). But the real highlight of the festival, was newly-renovated by AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków “Senster” – a first robotic sculpture to be controlled by a computer made by Edward Ihnatowicz at the beginning of the 1970s. “Senster’’ is five-metre-long steel animal-like sculpture that registered and recorded all the physical processes that took place in its surroundings. At this year’s Patchlab Festival the participants had an opportunity to see this most important creation of Ihnatowicz for the first time in decades (Read about the compelling story of “Senster” (Sonia Milewska) in the print issue of Contemporary Lynx magazine 10 (2) 2018). Moreover, as part of the festival, numerous audiovisual concerts, discussion panels with technology specialists, workshops with artists and even a 360 ° cinema took place in various location around the city.

Contemporary Lynx was a media partner of the 7th edition of the Patchlab Digital Art Festival in Krakow, which took place between 23 and 28 October 2018.

See photos taken during the Patchlab Festival.

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