The Other AI

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Nieuwe Instituut

This two-day event gathers scholars and artists of the psycho-digital realm to ask how bots, avatars and replicas are getting under our skin

V2_ Lab for the Unstable Media

Flipping the focus from effective to affective AI and from intelligence to intimacy, this event brings together scholars and artists from the psycho-digital realm to explore how bots, avatars and replicas are getting under our skin. The Other AI is cohosted by V2_Lab for the Unstable Media and the Nieuwe Instituut’s -1 Digital Lab, in collaboration with Queer Analysis study group at the University of Amsterdam.Chatbots are our newest social obsession, so it is more important than ever to explore the pleasures and pitfalls of falling in love with AI through the lens of automated intimacies. While most discussions have approached artificial intelligence from a cognitive perspective as a tool for mental or menial tasks, users have evolved from seeking information to seeking companionship. The Other AI focuses on the ‘other’ side of so-called intelligent machines: their intimate, sensual and emotional appeal to us as feeling creatures.Over two days at the V2 Lab for the Unstable Media and the Nieuwe Instituut, The Other AI: Automating Intimacies With/Through/Beyond Artificial Intelligence will explore the themes of sex and love.<ul><li>Day One at the V2_ Lab: Desiring Machines: Sex and Robots Artists and academics will analyse exploring how sexual technologies are changing, or revealing, erotic practices.</li><li>Day Two at -1 Digital Lab, the Nieuwe Instituut: Virtual Love and Companionship – for Real Lectures and performances will explore the utopian and dystopian possibilities of technologised love, asking: how real does it feel?</li></ul>About the Queer Analysis study group<a href="https://asca.uva.nl/content/research-groups/queer-analysis/queer-analysis.html?cb" title="https://asca.uva.nl/content/research-groups/queer-analysis/queer-analysis.html?cb" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Queer Analysis</a> is a research unit dedicated to investigating queer objects, subjects, encounters and practices in contemporary culture. Tracing its roots back to the intersection of queer theory and psychoanalysis, as well as the intensification of LGBTQ+ activism since the 1990s, our work embraces various interpretations of ‘queer’ in order to shed light on the conditions for living out non-normative genders and sexualities today.About V2_ Lab for the Unstable MediaV2_Lab for the Unstable Media is an interdisciplinary centre for art and media technology. We present, produce, archive and publish work at the intersection of art, technology and society. We believe that art and design play a vital role in the social integration of technological developments. We facilitate critical dialogue, artistic reflection and practice-oriented research to explore issues regarding the social impact of technology.About -1 Digital Lab <a href="https://nieuweinstituut.nl/en/projects/minus-one" title="https://nieuweinstituut.nl/en/projects/minus-one" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">-1 Digital Lab</a> is a research studio and experimental space for digital culture located in the basement of the Nieuwe Instituut. In 2026, -1 Digital Lab will explore the theme of technology and desire. As part of this, we are organising a public programme series called -1 Encounters' supporting six artists- and researchers-in-residence, hosting a reading group on desire and technology and running a home-brewed Dungeons &amp; Dragons campaign on the last Friday of every month.

Day 1 at V2_

Theme of the Day: 'Desiring Machines: Sex & Robots'

Doors open

“What Do We Desire When We Desire Machines?” by Misha Kavka, “Glowing Tentacles and Glitching Penises: Rethinking Desire through Virtual Reality” by Ilker Bahar, and “Filling the Hole of (S)existential Anxiety? Sex Robots and their Phallic Promises” by Maaike van der Horst.


Session One: Academic Presentations

During this time you are able to enjoy a dinner at your own convenience. Doors will open again at 18:30hr.

Break

 “Protect Me from What I Want” by Nor Akelei, “In Search of Ghost Affects” by Laura A. Dima, and “Hybrid Couple” by Alicia Framis. Including a performance by House of Lost Bois. 

Session Two: Artistic Presentations

Drinks at V2_

Day 2 at Nieuwe Instituut

Theme of the Day: 'Virtual Love & Companionship – for Real'

Introduction by Misha Kavka, followed by the presentations “(Un)Predictable Strangers” by Delfina Martinez Pandiani, and “Love in the Time of TikTok” by Christos Tombras


Session One: Academic Presentations 

“Kissing Data and Embracing Angels” by Lancel/Maat, “Becoming Hypervisible: Upskirting, Drag, and Voluntary Surveillance as Self-Agency” by Otti Ferraris, and “Sentimental Tremors” by Jimena Casas, Naomi Collier Broms, Josefina Gilardi Mariscal, and Isabel Pontoppidian (as part of Pulp Apparatus).

Session Two: Artistic Presentations 

Closing Roundtable: Scholars & Artists

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The Other AI

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