Flavia Dzodan is a senior researcher and writer at the Research Group on Algorithmic Cultures at Gerrit Rietveld Academie. Even though much of her work comes out of academic research and theory as part of her work at Sandberg Instituut, Flavia takes pains to point out the non-academic nature of her practice. She describes herself as a “scavenger” of theory, an outsider who collects and assembles bits and pieces of existing ideas and hypotheses to construct her own discourse. In her case, this discourse is a sharp and critical analysis of algorithms and digital culture at the intersection of race and gender politics. She places particular emphasis on the way in which the colonial agenda of the past mutates and persists in our digital tools, cultural products, surveillance systems, networks, and data flows.
Algorithmic Cultures – During the Week on Algorithmic Cultures December 5th - 7th 2023 senior researcher Flavia Dzodan put together a three-day programme at Sandberg Instituut. The programme was an introduction to the research group on Algorithmic Cultures led by Flavia Dzodan, which was previously known as the A.I. research cell.
Algorithmic Cultures – We will explore the theoretical foundations of AI, delving into the intricate process of training AI models and understanding their underlying mechanisms. Through a hands-on approach, attendees will learn to craft prompts that resonate with AI applications, both text and image based, fostering a dialogue that can yield insightful text and evocative imagery as well as aid research practices. The session will have a generative approach, focusing on free to use applications. The goal is to use these tools as starting points for art making, design and research. Please bring your laptop as well as a notebook and pen.
Algorithmic Cultures – Week on Algorithmic Cultures is an introduction to the research group on Algorithmic Cultures. Algorithmic cultures refer to the dynamic and reciprocal relationship between algorithms and both human and non-human societies. We examine not only how algorithms are informed by and embedded within cultural norms, values, institutions, and behaviors but also how they, in turn, actively shape these dimensions. As algorithmic processes increasingly blur the boundaries of everyday life, they significantly influence the ways in which individuals and communities interact, engage with, and transform knowledge and culture. We share an interest in researching how algorithmic mediation can redefine power dynamics, ethical considerations, and the construction of reality itself.
Note that for the workshop by Enrique Gutierrez and Research Cafe you have to sign-up via the link attached.
Algorithmic Cultures – Unionizing the Speculative is an informal gathering that invites precarious cultural workers whose value of labor is likely to be challenged under the influence of generative AI. Participants will explore the collective strategy of advocacy through Speculoos biscuits containing AI-generated images.
Algorithmic Cultures – The series attempts to theorize an algorithmic hauntology, drawing on Jacques Derrida's notions around the spectral remnants of persistent and recurrent cultural artefacts that are encoded into technologies. If Carl Linnaeus defined the way we have codified nature through the publication of his foundational "Systema Naturae", what would a "Systema Algoritmus" entail?
Algorithmic Cultures – "Deterritorializing Intelligence is part of a series of events, meetings, symposia and public lectures in the frame of the ongoing Creator Doctus research of Femke Herregraven, which circumnavigates the historical, material and epistemological conditions of artificial intelligence. On this occasion, Femke invites students to her studio where she will engage in a ping pong dialogue with her supervisor Flavia Dzodan about the topics of their research involving AI, algorithms and computational technologies. This open studio moment will offer a glimpse into their research interests, methodologies and approaches to work in the context of their practice and their shared path at Sandberg Instituut".
Research Café is an informal seminar series where you can learn more about various research methodologies from different senior researchers from Rietveld Sandberg Research. These seminars are open to all students, staff, tutors, and alumni of the Rietveld Academie and the Sandberg Instituut.
Algorithmic Cultures – Knowledge is a space, an abstract space where data points are collected, they form clusters of possible relations. AI, ML or NN have a way of finding connections within a dataset. It finds a solution or answers from a dataset. Data is an abstract term, but it can be as tangible as we like it to be.
Algorithmic Cultures – We are looking for 4 members who are interested in joining the kenniskring/ research group on a regular basis; whose work is already engaged with the topics of ‘AI and algorithms’ and the different perspectives and disciplines that relate to these topics. As a study group member, you would be committed to attending a minimum of 4 sessions throughout the year.
Keep your mind in the gutter. Flavia Dzodan talks Godzilla & Kaiju & Philip Coyne talks Bigfoot and other green men.
Art & Spatial Praxis – Join us on Monday 23 May 2022 from 16.00-18.30 at Rietveld Academie's Theory Stairs for presentations and discussions on the imagination of the end times in art, design, architecture, and philosophy. For students, teachers, alumni and all interested people.
Deterritorializing Intelligence is a public lecture in the frame of the ongoing Creator Doctus research of Femke Herregraven, which circumnavigates the historical, material and epistemological conditions of artificial intelligence.
Algorithmic Cultures – For this occasion, Femke Herregraven has invited prof. dr. Rodrigo Ochigame who examines unorthodox models of computational rationality, such as nonclassical logics from Brazil, nonbinary Turing machines from India, and frameworks of information science from Cuba. Their research includes digital anthropology, the anthropology of science and technology, and the social dimensions of robotics and artificial intelligence.
In this round table discussion, we will explore how the human rating system creates a numeric value reflected in number of likes, number of YouTube reproductions, social media metrics and the way that platforms and apps have created a system of hierarchies and strata to measure life’s worth. We will discuss how through this human ratings system the logic of the algorithm intervenes in human subjectivity expanding the project of valuation of human life that has been instrumental to the capitalist administration of life itself.
The Research Cafe is a space to support research projects led by students at Sandberg Instituut. Each session revolves around a specific theme and text related to Artificial Intelligence that we use as a starting point for discussions on the topic. The idea behind the research cafe is to discuss different approaches and understandings to the session’s theme. It is meant as a moment to share “unfinished thinking”. That is, a process of exploring and expanding the possibilities of open-ended research.
The research fellowships are a Sandberg/Rietveld initiative to pursue different knowledge practices involving topics such as Artificial Intelligence, The City and New Materials. From both Rietveld and Sandberg a few candidates are selected to research one of the topics and share their project with the students and the community. This fellowship symposium is an ONLINE EVENT open to all Rietveld and Sandberg students: live.sandberg.nl.
Creator Doctus (CrD) – On the 28th of September 2020 Yael Davids has publicly defended her research concluding the first Creator Doctus (CrD) trajectory.