A Multimodal Approach to Exploring Artistic Process Futures

Authors: Ashby, S. Hanna, J. de Rooij, A., & Kasprzak, M.

Publication: (In press) Abstract to appear in Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Multimodality (ICOM-11): Designing Futures [url]

Abstract: Artists are designers of their own artistic process: they develop theories, methods, and tools to understand their impulses, conceive and evaluate new ideas, and facilitate steps toward a final work. As in other areas, AI has the potential to advance all stages in the artistic process. It can be used to gather, categorise, generate, and evaluate images and other data in ways that are different from, and in some ways exceed, human capabilities, due to the vast amounts of data these technologies can process. However, the potential of AI for the artistic process remains ambiguous. Open questions range from what role and form AI technologies should assume (e.g. preventing unintended consequences that stymie creativity), to how artists can responsibly use purpose-built AI tools (e.g. ensuring algorithmic bias is not hard-wired around Western aesthetics), given the political and social reach of the machine-learning approaches upon which such technologies are based. To support artists in cultivating a vision of their artistic process in relation to current advances in AI, our project enlisted the help of 12 professional artists and designers in: 1) creating scenarios around the intersection of art and AI, in effect ‘prehearsing the future’; 2) making these scenarios tangible through the design of speculative critical artefacts using a range of materials; and 3) articulating an artistic and epistemological point of view in the form of a collaborative manifesto, which we hope will be a lasting statement for (re)shaping the discourse with respect to AI and the artistic process. To facilitate manifesto writing, we developed a special edition of a card game called MANIFESTO!, which will be made available to artists, technologists, educators, and scholars along with the manifesto and documentation of the speculative scenarios and artefacts. In our presentation we will introduce and share the new ‘Art + AI’ edition of MANIFESTO! as well as results from our recent workshop with professional artists. This research is part of a larger initiative called Futures of Europe, an open-ended, multidisciplinary project that aims to help rebuild the commons in Europe and promote dialogue on complex societal issues.

Articulating (Uncertain) AI Futures of Artistic Practice: A Speculative Design and Manifesto Sprint Approach

Authors: Ashby, S. Hanna, J. de Rooij, A. Kasprzak, M., Hoekstra, J., & Bos, S.

Publication: (In press) Full paper to appear in Proceedings of the 15th Conference on Creativity and Cognition, ACM Press [url]

Abstract: AI is rapidly becoming enmeshed in our professional and private lives. The ubiquity of such technologies raises a host of ethical questions, value clashes, and unforeseen consequences that must be confronted. Developments such as Ai-Da and DALL-E 2 are exciting in that they present robust new capabilities in AI and creativity. However, the futures such technologies unlock are also unpredictable. Given the speed with which such technologies are emerging and becoming adopted, the need to engage target audiences to weigh in on possible AI futures is critical. Our pilot project, Artistic Process Futures and AI, seeks to explore the role and potential implications of AI technologies with artists. In this paper, we show how participatory speculative design processes might be channeled into a public statement, or manifesto, regarding possible and preferable AI futures for supporting the artistic process, and how our workshop exposed uncertainty at the core of such deliberation.

Helaas Pindakaas: ChatGPT schrijft je e-mails, maar het is geen Ron Blaauw

Authors: de Rooij, A. Hanna, J. Ashby, S., & Kasprzak, M.

Publication: (In press) Online article to appear in Tekstblad [url]

With All Caveats: Manifesto Writing in an Age of Uncertainty

Authors: Hanna, J., & Ashby, S.

Publication: (2022) FoAM Anarchive [url]

Abstract: Is the manifesto still of any value? Is it dead, or should it be? In fact over the past decade the manifesto has assumed a renewed relevance. There has been a rise in manifesto writing online as well as on the streets. Manifesto writing is a tonic for stagnation – in this, at least, the Futurists were right. It generates radical new ideas and frees us from the confines of cautious speech in times that demand action. Unlike the essay, which is more tentative – in Theodor Adorno’s words, ‘fragmentary’ and ‘partial’ – the manifesto is confident and totalising, performing an authority it does not fully possess. It uses this confidence to bring imagined futures to life in the present. Manifestos are hybrid, multivocal, and multimodal; blending text and image, disciplines and audiences. They span different (sometimes competing) registers; online and offline, spontaneous and premeditated, ephemeral and historical. Manifestos are unique in that they have long represented ‘bodies in struggle rather than simply ideas in contention'. They elevate physical, energetic, and accessible expression. Since the rise of the internet, the global character of the manifesto has developed in strikingly new directions. The manifesto has announced new tendencies at the crossroads of technology and feminism, from Donna Haraway’s ‘A Cyborg Manifesto’ to Legacy Russell’s Glitch Feminism: A Manifesto, and technology and decolonisation (‘The Mundane Afrofuturist Manifesto’, ‘The Decolonial AI Manyfesto’). The manifesto has become ubiquitous as both a global and popular form, absorbed into mainstream culture through advertising, activism, and social media (where manifestos proliferate and mutate). The Covid-19 pandemic saw an explosion of online manifestos trading old certainties for new possibilities, calling for protests in the present, and future transformations. Going forward, we believe that the manifesto can serve, in the words of Bruno Latour, ‘Not as a war cry... but rather as a warning’. It is a form fit for the challenges ahead, capable of sketching new visions and bringing urgent causes to light.

Reflections on Manifesto Writing

Authors: Hanna, J., & Ashby, S.

Publication: (January 2022) Sage Journals: Multimodality and Society, 2(1), 23-30 [url]

Abstract: The manifesto is a hybrid, multivocal and multimodal form that can be used to generate and push into the public sphere radical new ideas, freeing its authors from the constraints of polite speech in times that call for urgent action. Activism within universities is on the rise, motivated by issues such as climate change, migration, race, gender, and institutional reform. The authors, both academics living in The Netherlands, started the Words in Freedom project for the study of manifestos and the development of tools for collaborative manifesto writing. In 2019 they created a game called MANIFESTO! that was first tested at the annual CHI conference for human-computer interaction, held in Glasgow. This practitioner reflection discusses strategies and techniques for manifesto writing, especially in an academic context.

MANIFESTO! Now: Game Design for Revolutionary Thinking

Authors: Ashby, S., Hanna, J., Matos, S., Nash, C., & Faria, A

Publication: (2021) In Proceedings of Cumulus Conference 2021: Design Culture(s), Cumulus and the Global Association of Art and Design Education and Research, 4160-4173 [url]

Fourth Wave HCI Meets the 21st Century Manifesto

Authors: Ashby, S., Hanna, J., Matos, S., Nash, C., & Faria, A.

Publication: (2019) In Proceedings of the Halfway to the Future Symposium, ACM Press, 1-11 [url]

Abstract: We take up Bødker's challenge to ‘identify’ a fourth wave HCI, building on the work of Blevis et al. and others to shore up a new vision that places ‘politics and values and ethics’ at the forefront without abandoning the strengths of previous waves. We insist that a fourth wave must push harder, beyond measured criticism for actual (e.g. institutional) change. We present two studies performed at CHI’19, where we used our MANIFESTO! game to: 1) take the temperature of colleagues on adopting an activist stance, 2) test manifesto writing as a key activity in pushing HCI forward into the fourth wave, and 3) test our game for subsequent iterations, and as a probe for inspiring new digital tools. With the enthusiastic response received to gameplay, facilitated in part through a novel method using tableau vivant, we argue for taking political activism from the margins into mainstream HCI.

Crowdsourcing a Collective Intelligence Manifesto

Authors: Grobbink, E., Hanna, J., & Ashby, S.

Publication: (2019) Online article with Nesta [url]

Youth, Politics and Civic Participation: The 'Manifesto Machine'

Authors: Matos, S., Ashby, S., Rodrigues, R., & Hanna, J.

Publication: (2019) In Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Communities & Technologies, ACM Press, 5-8 [url]

Abstract: We present the Manifesto Machine, a collaborative writing environment for drafting and designing manifestos. In this instance, we report on a workshop with a group of local youths. We used the environment as a thought probe for provoking reflections on politics and civic participation. Our insights indicate that while there is a tendency to view youths as apolitical, there is scope for using such a tool to encourage active discussion and engage communities around the topics that affect them.

Dissent by Design: A Manifesto for CHI Manifestos

Authors: Hanna, J., Ashby, S., Matos, S., Faria, A., & Rodrigues, R.

Publication: (2019) In Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM Press, 1-10 [url]

Abstract: The past decade has seen a welcome rise in critical reflection in HC. But the use of manifestos - not to promote but to provoke - is still rare in comparison to more established disciplines. Digital activism has given new life to the manifesto, and the manifesto may in turn give new life to CHI - prompting new ideas by temporarily liberating scholars from the confines of careful speech and rational argument. We present a manifesto for manifestos; a chance for the CHI community to question its status quo and dream of its possible futures using our purpose-built authoring tools.

Collaborative Narrative Visions and the Manifesto Machine

Authors: Ashby, S., Hanna, J., Matos, S., & Rodrigues, R.

Publication: (2018) In Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing, ACM Press, 13-16 [url]

Abstract: The mark of a successful academic conference is the sustained discussion and engagement that continues long after the closing session. For key event takeaways and action planning to have resonance, attendees need a means of amplifying and further edifying their shared ideas and sense of purpose. We present the Manifesto Machine, a collaborative writing environment for drafting and designing manifestos, and for encouraging active discussion and engagement around the topics that affect us. In this integrated demonstration, we position the Manifesto Machine as a thought probe for provoking critical self-reflection in the field of technology design, and for piecing together and making explicit a collaborative new vision of living and working together in the digital age.

Words in Freedom: A Manifesto Machine as Critical Design

Authors: Ashby, S., Hanna, J., Matos, S., & Rodrigues, R.

Publication: (2018) In Cheok, A. D., Inami, M., & Romao, T. (eds.) International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment, Springer, 557–566 [url]

Abstract: Words in Freedom is a design project aimed at artists, activists, and others that draws from research on the manifesto to create a studio environment or ‘Manifesto Machine’. Drawing primarily on the sub-disciplines of Design for Good and Critical Design, this project seeks to enhance conscious self-expression and empowerment while questioning design’s inbuilt optimism and the effects of automation on human agency. When we automate for improved performance, what do we lose in the process? Do the benefits outweigh the loss of agency? How can technology aid expression without over determining it? Ultimately, Words in Freedom seeks to create a collaborative writing environment that strikes the right balance between freedom and constraint, agency and inspiration. We trace the manifesto’s return to prominence in digital form, arguing for its usefulness as a potent discursive artifact. We then describe the Manifesto Machine as a set of tools to help write and disseminate persuasive manifestos, introducing our initial prototype (or probe, as in Reflective Design) as a means of conducting our primary research, engaging with groups and understanding social practices around declaring principles and beliefs.