Patchlab Festival 2024 ERROЯ?

13th edition of the Patchlab Digital Art Festival ERROЯ?, showcasing the innovative and exploratory intersections of visual arts and advanced digital technology, was held in Kraków from October 17 to 20, with the titular exhibition hosted at Pałac Potockich on the Main Market Square available until October 27. Following the theme of ERROЯ?, the festival creators and participating artists encouraged the audience to explore answers and pose questions about pressing contemporary issues. “In an era where the uncontrolled development of artificial intelligence continuously pushes the boundaries of human understanding, while escalating climate crises, geopolitical instability, societal polarization, and new tools of reality manipulation—such as fake news, deep fakes, and AI hallucinations—have become everyday occurrences, we must ask ourselves a fundamental question: has something gone wrong? Or could these disruptions paradoxically serve as a catalyst for discovering new ways of thinking and perceiving the world?” said Elwira Wojtunik, Artistic Director of the Patchlab Festival.Throughout the four days of festival events, there were ample opportunities for participants to engage in immersive audiovisual performances and projectiond in the fulldome, discussions, seek answers, and pose their own questions. Patchlab Festival left important mark again with a rich program that spanned thought-provoking exhibitions, immersive installations, and live performances.Victorine van Alphen's IVF-X offered participants a chance to design an AI-generated child-cyborg, provoking discussions on post-human existence. The ERROЯ? exhibition at Pałac Potockich delved into digital manipulation and AI, featuring 9 digital artworks incl. awarded Pedro Harres’ From the Main Square, Rachel Maclean’s Duck ot Living Space by Sven Windszus.

The Chromosphere Fulldome hosted mesmerizing 360° screenings of 19 animations and immersive av performances live, featuring artists Maotik, MONOCOLOR, ABDX, Pandelis Diamantides and Odaibe - Pablo Frizzi duo. Fulldome program incluided also animations for kids and workshop explored fulldome filmmaking, while a symposium tackled sustainability in digital art.

Timée an immersive audiovisual installation by French artist Guillaume Marmin was located at the Apteka Designu. AI ERROЯ? was a Sunday evening event at Cricoteka featuring two experimental audiovisual performances by Italian artists. Riccardo Giovinetto’s project FEMINA intertwined past and present, exploring AI’s potential to reinterpret classical Renaissance artworks through modern technology. Meanwhile, Touchy Toy Collective's performance TTC examined the growing dominance of AI in art, posing critical questions about the boundaries between algorithmic creation and human intervention.

Music highlights included Emika’s live premiere of her album Haze, accompanied by DJ sets from Sarapata and Daniel Drumz.

Check the gallery available at https://patchlab.pl/galeria/