This year, we will complement our festival program with a special line-up of workshops and talks, in collaboration with The Curator Ship Academy.

Please find the talks and workshops hereafter, as well as the dates and prices (with discounts for the participants of our Open Call).

Each participant of our open call for artists working with AI pays 30€, which can be used as a discount voucher for the online seminars and workshops on Artificial Intelligence.

Please write pwa.ai.call@gmail.com for sign-up and questions

 

The prices and dates are as follows:

Boris Eldagsen, ONLINE PRESENTATION + Q&A “Promptography: How AI Is Overtaking Photography”

Date: 22 Oct, 2023, 18:30 – 20:30 CEST
Price for general public: 75€, Price for participants: 65€


Boris Eldagsen, INTENSIVE ONLINE WORKSHOP PART I “Text-Based Prompting For Professionals”

Price for general public: 238€, Price for participants: 215€
Date: 23 Oct, 2023, 18:30 – 21:30 CEST


Boris Eldagsen, INTENSIVE ONLINE WORKSHOP PART  II “Image-Based Prompting For Professionals”

Price for general public: 238€, Price for participants: 215€
Date: 25 Oct, 2023, 18:30 – 21:30


paula roush, ONLINE PRESENTATION + Q&A “A.I. Disruption: Exploring Experimental Photobook Publishing with Artificial Intelligence”

Price for general public: 45€, Price for participants: 25€
Date: postponed for personal reasons of the artist to early December, still open for inscription!


paula roush, Pageturner 2023  2 day-workshop: “A.I. Disruption: Artistic Inscriptions in AI-Invoked Photobook Publishing”

Price for general public: 195€, Price for participants: 165€
Date: postponed for personal reasons of the artist to early December, still open for inscription!

ONLINE TALKS

Boris Eldagsen, ONLINE PRESENTATION + Q&A “Promptography: How AI Is Overtaking Photography”

An online presentation that gives an overview of the innumerable possibilities of AI image generation and its consequences for photography, videography, creative professions and society. LIVE, via zoom and with discussion section. Duration: 2 hours.

Date: 22 Oct, 2023, 18:30 – 20:30 CEST. Apply

paula roush, ONLINE PRESENTATION + Q&A “A.I. Disruption: Exploring Experimental Photobook Publishing with Artificial Intelligence”

In the realm of photographic practice, there has been substantial experimentation and debate surrounding generated images. Yet, one intriguing and relatively uncharted territory lies in the utilization of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a transformative tool in experimental publishing. Rooted in avant-garde practices of détournement and meaning disruption, this online presentation aims to delve into how AI can be actively and deliberately harnessed to play a disruptive role in the field of photobook publishing. Duration: 2 hours. Live session via Zoom with an interactive discussion section.

Date: 29 October, 2023, 18:30 – 20:30 CEST. Apply

**Defining “Détournement”:**

Within the context of “A.I. Disruption: Exploring Experimental Photobook Publishing with Artificial Intelligence,” the term “détournement” encompasses the practice of taking elements from existing media or cultural practices and then repurposing or altering them in a manner that deliberately subverts or distorts their original meaning. Our focus extends beyond mere critique or satire of the original content; it encompasses the challenge to conventional interpretations of ‘intelligence’ and the provision of a fresh perspective on hegemonic meanings.

 

**Illustrating Through Examples:**

Photobook Is Did You Mean Photo Book Is (paula roush, msdm publications 2020): This work delves into the intriguing world of photobook print-on-demand publishing, leveraging artificial intelligence. It presents readers with two sections that can be read in order or randomly. The first section critically examines the term “photobook,” exploring its colloquial, vernacular, technical, academic, theoretical, and artistic dimensions. The second section includes diagrams and technical drawings related to software applications for automatic photobook production and print-on-demand. “Photobook Is” serves as an ironic image-text creation, employing sampling and “re-directed language” as a literary technique, intentionally altering language for experimental storytelling.

24 Was the Beginning – 10 Years Ago (Oleksii Karpovich, 2023): During a pageturner workshop at the Malakta art factory in Vaasa, Finland, the collective invoked an AI entity to organize Oleksii’s photographic documentation of the invasion of Ukraine. After multiple iterations, a photo-narrative emerged, resulting in the final design of “24 Was the Beginning – 10 Years Ago.” The AI’s contribution included deep mapping and archival strategies, lending an urgent and empathetic dimension to the project. The resulting photobook dummy retains a photodocumentary ethos while embracing conceptual strategies, adding an artistic touch to irony within the context of artificial intelligence.

WORKSHOPS

Boris Eldagsen, INTENSIVE ONLINE WORKSHOP “Image-Based Prompting For Professionals”, Part I

An intensive online workshops by Boris Eldagsen that provide an overview of the current possibilities of AI image generation, a deep understanding of how it works and thus a firm foundation for individual use applications whose results stand out from the average AI image production. They are tailored to the previously identified needs of the participants and take place via Zoom.  

In Promptology I, Boris teaches the foundation for text prompting, and explains how professional prompting builds on it. He explains the elements, basic rules and strategies of text-based prompting, the fine-tuning with parameters and all the tricks of prompt whispering. The knowledge presented will be tested and deepened in practical LIVE exercises (“prompt battles”). For this we use the platforms DALL E2, Midjourney, and Adobe Firefly.

Date: 23 Oct, 2023, 18:30 – 21:30 CEST. Apply

INTENSIVE ONLINE WORKSHOP “Image-Based Prompting For Professionals”, Part II:

In the 3-hour INTENSIVE WORKSHOP | Image-based Prompting for Professionals (Promptology II), Boris explains how to generate images using existing images, or in a combination of text and image prompts. The focus is clearly on midjourney, where we experiment with blend, image prompts and faceswap. We test the possibilities of inpainting and outpainting (aka Generative Fill / Uncrop / Zoom) on Midjourney, Photoshop Beta and Stable Diffusion. In addition, he will show what Stable Diffusion has over Midjourney.

Date: 25 Oct, 2023, 18:30 – 21:30. Apply

paula roush, Pageturner 2023 workshop: “A.I. Disruption: Artistic Inscriptions in AI-Invoked Photobook Publishing.”

**Workshop Overview:**

The 2023 Pageturner workshop explores the impact of AI on the realm of photobook publishing, with a particular focus on the artistic inscriptions that AI can invoke. Participants will dive into the diverse applications of AI in photobook creation, spanning content generation, curation, and the printing process. Drawing inspiration from AI-driven case studies, this workshop will guide participants in harnessing AI’s potential to organize image collections, enhance narratives through deep mapping, and craft speculative photobook narratives using AI-generated text prompts. Furthermore, we will delve into the dynamic landscape of AI-powered automated print-on-demand platforms, enabling cost-effective self-publishing for aspiring photobook creators.

**Workshop Dates:**

– SUNDAY, 5 November

** “A.I. Disruption Day 1: Irony and Detournement”

AM
– Exploring AI applications for photobook editing and storytelling.

– Unleashing artistic strategies of irony and detournement to transform photographic collections, enrich images, shape editorial design and layout, and contextualize narratives through deep mapping.

PM
-Personal projects [prompts for project development + feedforward]

– SUNDAY, 12 November

** A.I. Disruption Day 2: Artistic Print on Demand”

AM

– Navigating artistic strategies within the realm of print-on-demand.

– Showcasing AI-powered applications and platforms tailored for photobook printing.

– Mastering the art of leveraging automated platforms for cost-effective self-publishing, including ISBN and global distribution.

PM

-Personal projects [prompts for project development + feedforward]

Apply

**Workshop Schedule:**

– Time: 10:00 – 13:00 ; 14:00 – 17:00 (LIVE, via Zoom)

– Duration: 2 sundays, 6 hours each session [with a lunch break]

**Key Workshop Skills:**

Participants will acquire essential skills to infuse creativity into their photobook projects, with the opportunity to craft personalized AI-generated prompts tailored to their unique artistic projects.

**Tools and Focus:**

Throughout this workshop, we will harness a range of cutting-edge tools and platforms, with a significant emphasis on Chat GPT—an acclaimed language model developed by OpenAI, renowned for its human-like text generation capabilities — and Print-on-demand (POD)—web-to-print platforms available for independent publishing.

**Target Audience:**

This workshop caters to students, professionals, photographers, and visual artists eager to expand the boundaries of traditional documentary, narrative, and editorial storytelling through the innovative use of AI. It will be particularly useful if you have a photographic collection you’re working on and would like to reap the benefits of editorial capabilities offered by today’s A.I. tools.

**Defining “Inscriptions”:**

In the context of “A.I. Disruption: Artistic Inscriptions in AI-Invoked Photobook Publishing,” “inscriptions” encompass a multifaceted role. They represent deliberate and meaningful additions of artistic text, visual elements, and written content within the photobook. Our focus extends beyond visual components, embracing textual and para-textual elements that accompany the photographs. This encompasses deep mapping, storytelling, archival and printing strategies—all contributing to the artistic and narrative dimensions of photobook creation, now empowered by AI.