EVENT: MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL MMXXIII (MARCH 19 - 26 2023, MILAN AND ONLINE)

MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL MMXXIII

Neither Artificial Nor Intelligent

March 19 - 26 2023, Milan and online

Special screening on March 25 2023 at the

Museo Interattivo del Cinema

Viale Fulvio Testi 121 20162 Milano

Curated by Matteo Bittanti

 

The sixth edition of the MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL features a diverse selection of 19 machinima and game videos from 23 artists representing 12 countries.

“Neither Artificial Nor Intelligent” (NANI) is how Kate Crawford— research professor of communication and science and technology studies at the University of Southern California and a senior principal researcher at Microsoft Research — describes artificial intelligence in her award-winning book Atlas of AI (2021). According to Crawford, “AI is neither artificial nor intelligent. It is made from natural resources and it is people who are performing the tasks to make the systems appear autonomous.”

Likewise, the new edition of the Milan Machinima Festival will address the growing influence of artificial intelligence on storytelling and visual narrative, but also the rhetoric surrounding this technique

This year the festival features two distinct sections: NEITHER INTELLIGENT NOR ARTIFICIAL (March 25 2023, in-person) and MACHINIMA IN THE AGE OF AI (March 19-26 2023, online), featuring 9 programs overall.

Experience the best of machinima and game videos through our curated programs:

NEITHER INTELLIGENT NOR ARTIFICIAL (Museum of Interactive Cinema, Milan, March 25 2023): NEITHER INTELLIGENT NOR ARTIFICIAL, THE POLITICS OF GAMING, DYSTOPIA and a selection of works from MADE IN ITALY and THE NEO AVANT-GARDE which will be presented exclusively on site, specifically

• LUCAS AZEMAR, LIFE ON EARTH, 2019

• SOREN THILO FUNDER, GAME ENGINES (Orange Bulletproof Kids) (2021)

• TOTAL REFUSAL, HARDLY WORKING, 2022

• BEN NICHOLSON, THE TONIC OF BATTERSEA PARK, 2023

• ANDREA GATOPOLOUS, HAPPY NEW YEAR, JIM, 2022

• KENT SHEELY, WELCOME BACK, 2022

• CHRISTIAN WRIGHT, BODY LANGUAGE, 2022

• STANISLAW PETRUK, THE REMNANTS, 2022

MACHINIMA IN THE AGE OF AI (March 19-26 2023, online): MADE IN ITALY, THE NEO AVANT-GARDE, COUNTER-NARRATIVES, and UTOPIA.

Featured artists: Babak Ahteshamipour, Lucas Azémar, Martin Bell, Marc Coverdale, Iain Douglas, Søren Thilo Funder, Andrea Gatopoulos, Nicholas Gebbe, Luca Giacomelli, Manuel Ghidini, Kara Güt, Ben Nicholson, Stanislaw Petruk, Kent Sheely, Brenton Alexander Smith, Colin Stagner, Nanut Thanapornrapee, Total Refusal, Rhett Tsai, and Christian Wright.

The festival’s poster was designed by Jordy Veenstra, one of the most talented artists working with machinima today. “The initial keywords given to me were NPC and AI”, said the Dutch artist and filmmaker. “In tandem with this year’s theme, my first thoughts were: pseudo-intelligence, digitization, dehumanization, empty shells, algorithms, compulsory movement and/or execution — as in NPC speech and movement —, the contrast between real/fabricated and the visualization of code.“

Consistently with this premise, Veenstra used AI-based tools to generate the artwork. As he explains: “The work was created with the Dall-E AI provided by OpenAI and in my eyes ideally captures this idea. White experimental, dehumanized masses looking like NPCs, with truly absurd poses; just standing there, surrounded by experimental ‘white’ code blobs; simply looking around restlessly and waiting for someone, anyone, to give a quest to, to be useful and to have their code finally executed. To have their own quest completed.”

The full program and schedule are available here

Tickets can be purchased here

LINK: MMF MMXXIII