Two-day conference – film night with historic computer art animations – performance The Orchid Cage
Press release – The art meets science – Foundation Herbert W. Franke invites the community of generative art to the “Generative Art Summit” from July 3 to 6. At the heart of the event is a two-day conference and additional evening events at the Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Hanseatenweg. More than 50 guests of honor from around the world will come together for a cross-generational meet and greet – artists whose works have shaped this art style for seven decades, as well as innovative museum professionals and art historians who have been researching the development of generative art for decades. They will be joined by major collectors and important platform operators in the blockchain who specialize in the distribution of artworks. In addition to the two-day conference with lectures and panel discussions, there will be two evening events in Berlin: a film night with historical computer animations and a theater performance “Sandfiction 4K: Orchid Cage” as the artistic finale of the foundation festival. The artist group Kaleidolux conjures up a future world on stage with an actress, two musicians and a sand painter. The visionary story is based on Franke’s utopian novel “The Orchid Cage”. The use of AI as an “art machine” had previously been discussed at the Summit conference. But what if, as the visionary Franke asked back in 1961, artificial intelligence were to be developed into an “ethical machine”? He also questioned the high tech “entertainization” of human civilization – both topics that still seemed very distant in the future at the time.
Festival Pass — tickets at reduced total price
Overview single tickets — One-way tickets to the four events
Fotos: Herbert W. Franke/Akademie der Künste, Erik-Jan_Ouwerkerk / William Latham / Clifford Singer / “The Orchid Cage”, Hartmut Hientzsch
With the ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, the foundation has gained a partner that has been curating this media art like no other institution in Europe since the 1980s. Alistair Hudson, Scientific-Artistic Director at the ZKM, emphasizes: “We are delighted to be a partner of the Foundation Herbert W. Franke and its first Generative Art Summit in Berlin. Guests from all over the world will report as contemporary witnesses from many decades and provide unique insights into the development of generative art.”
The foundation is very happy that also two further institutional partners joined the event: the Institut Heidersberger and the Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg. The Foundation is organizing a day trip to Wolfsburg for the invited guests from all over the world. The Heidersberger Institute is dedicated to the estate of the generative photographer Heinrich Heidersberger. Institute founder Benjamin Heidersberger: “I am looking forward to the day trip that the foundation is offering guests to my father’s realm. We will be demonstrating his generative art machine, the Rhythmograph, in operation.” The exhibition “Code – Art – Constructions. On the history of generative art” will also open. It shows around 30 physical works and more than 50 digital works on screens and is curated by Marcus Koerber, Bernd Rodrian and Susanne Paech. The works come from the foundation’s collection “Franke & Friends”. Marcus Körber, Director of the Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg: “We are very pleased about the collaboration with the foundation, as it fits in perfectly with our museum profile and our future orientation.”
Other partners of the event are Art Blocks, the leading international blockchain platform in the field of generative art, and the Expanded.art gallery, which is selling selected works from the estate of Herbert W. Franke on behalf of the foundation. The money raised is used for different foundation projects.
As the artistic finale of the foundation festival, the artist group Kaleidolux conjures up a performance of drama, music and sand painting with “Sandfiction 4K: The Orchid Cage” at the Akademie der Künste. The visionary story is based on Franke’s utopian novel “The Orchid Cage”. The use of AI as an “art machine” had previously been discussed at the Summit conference. But what if, as the visionary Franke asked back in 1961, artificial intelligence were to be developed into an “ethical machine”? He also questioned the “entertainization” of human civilization – both topics that still seemed very distant in the future at the time.
Susanne Paech, founder of the Herbert W. Franke Foundation, initiator and creator of the event: “It’s great that so many guests of honor from all over the world are accepting the invitation and coming together for a few days in Berlin and Wolfsburg. Many members of the large generative art community will be meeting in person for the first time. The foundation is delighted to be able to facilitate these encounters.”
Photos: Akademie der Künste, Erik-Jan_Ouwerkerk / Larry Cuba / Herbert W. Franke “Oscillogram”/ “Sandfiction 4K: The Orchid Cage”, Hartmut Hientzsch
The Event Pass (for all four events in Berlin)
each event can also be booked seperately (links below).
Overview of the program modules of the Generative Art Summit
July 3-4: Conference – day 1 „Hall of Fame“ and day 2 „From Algorithms to Artificial Intelligence”
Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Hanseatenweg
Event Ticket Conference Day 1 and Event Ticket Conference Day 2
July 3: Evening Event „Film Night“showing important analog and digital computer animations from the 20th ccenturty –
presented with information about their technologies by computer animation pioneer Larry Cuba
Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Hanseatenweg
Event Ticket
July 4: Evening Event Vernissage einer Solo-Ausstellung mi Werken von Herbert W. Franke
König Galerie, St.-Agnes-Kirche – free entrance
July 5: Day excursion to Wolfsburg visiting Institut Heidersberger und the Vernissage of the exhibition
“Code – Kunst – Konstruktionen. Zur Geschichte der generativen Kunst” showing works of the foudnation’s
collection “Franke & Friends” at Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg – bus tour from Berlin for invited
guests only – free public entrance to the vernissage at the Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg
Juli 6: Evening Event: Performance “Sandfiction 4K – The Orchid Cage”
Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Hanseatenweg
Event Ticket
Press contact and press accreditation
Susanne Paech office@art-meets-science.info