*Okay, it's a press release. But I'm posting it for two reasons (1) that's truly a strange project, and (b) I rather like Fabrica. I've been known to have a good time at Fabrica. It's nice to see the Treviso contingent on top of their game here.
PRESS RELEASE
26 May 2016Tate Britain announces A.I. computer vision project ‘RECOGNITION’ as winner of the IK Prize 2016
The winner of IK Prize 2016, an annual award presented by Tate in partnership with Microsoft that celebrates creative talent in the digital industry, was announced today. The winning team (Angelo Semeraro, Coralie Gourguechon and Monica Lanaro) are based at Fabrica, a communication research centre in Treviso, Italy, and have been awarded the prize for RECOGNITION, an artificial intelligence computer vision project that will uncover the hidden links between current events and art from the Tate collection.
RECOGNITION will use powerful algorithms and machine learning to search through Tate’s vast digital collection and archive and news images of current events, unearthing hidden relationships between how the world has been represented in image form, in the past and present. The public will be able to watch the machine at work as it compares composition, style and subject matter, producing a stream of curated images online. In the gallery, visitors will be able to step into an installation to explore this unique virtual collection. RECOGNITION will encourage the public to look afresh at the art of the past through the lens of our world today.
The 2016 IK Prize, in partnership with Microsoft, invited digital creatives, from researchers and software developers to artists and designers, to propose a project using artificial intelligence that will explore, investigate or ‘understand’ British art from the Tate collection in a new way. The Fabrica team receive a £15,000 prize and £90,000 production budget to turn their idea into reality in collaboration with Tate and Microsoft. The winning project, RECOGNITION, will be unveiled online and at Tate Britain later this summer.
The winning team at Fabrica said:
“We were interested in how digital technology is changing perception of time and the world around us. Training a form of artificial intelligence to compare Tate’s collection and archive with contemporary photojournalism is a unique opportunity to explore how we look at the world. We can’t wait to begin working with Tate, Microsoft and a talented team of AI specialists to create this living, seeing, algorithm.”
Eric Horvitz, Technical Fellow and Director of Microsoft Research Lab at Redmond and IK Prize judge, said:
“It was an honor to be involved in judging the submissions, along with colleagues on a diverse panel of artists, curators, and technologists. We received such wonderfully creative proposals about how artificial intelligence and art might be combined. Given the burst of creativity stimulated by the challenge, it’s unfortunate that we could only select one winner for the IK Prize.”Kerstin Mogull, Managing Director, Tate, said:
“The IK Prize celebrates creative talent in the digital industry by supporting innovative projects at the intersection of design, technology and art. By partnering with Microsoft on this year’s competition we are able to explore this new and developing field; I’m excited to see what artificial intelligence can bring to our audience’s understanding and enjoyment of the collection.”The IK Prize, named in memory of the philanthropist Irene Kreitman, celebrates creative talent in the digital industry. Initiated in 2013 by the Porter Foundation (IK Prize 2014 and 2015), the IK Prize is presented by Tate to a team, company or individual for an original idea that uses digital technology to explore art on display at Tate Britain and on the Tate website. The 2016 competition, in partnership with Microsoft, challenged digital creatives to come up with a project using a form of artificial intelligence to explore British art in the Tate collection.
For press information contact Cecily.Carbone@tate.org.uk or Emma.Double@tate.org.uk
or call +44(0)20 7887 8730/8731NOTES TO EDITORS
Tate is delighted to be working with Microsoft to present IK Prize 2016. In addition to their generous support of the prize, Microsoft will offer consultancy and technical support to the nominees and the winner during the development of their project. For more information about the IK Prize, visit tate.org.uk/ikprizeFabrica is a communication research centre based in Treviso, Italy, part of the Benetton Group. Established in 1994, Fabrica offers to young researchers from around the world a one-year scholarship within disciplines such as design, visual communication, photography, interaction, video, music and journalism.
Angelo Semeraro studied Computer Science at the University of Bologna. Now based at Fabrica, his works include interactive installations and mobile applications experimenting with the perception of sounds and spaces, and the boundary between physical and digital.
Coralie Gourguechon is a designer with an interdisciplinary approach currently working as an Interaction Designer at Fabrica. She’s interested in the representation of technology which she deconstructs and simplifies, both on a physical and semantic level.
Monica Lanaro, project manager at Fabrica, has worked for the Dedalo Minosse Prize commissioning a building in Vicenza, for Festivaletteratura in Mantova and for the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice.
The four shortlisted proposals for the IK Prize 2016 were:
• The Wandering Intelligence of Art by Ross Frame and Tom Wyatt
• OSCAR by Unit Lab (Mike Vanis, Cindy Strobach and Amina Abbas Nazari)
• Texting Tate by Michel Erler
• RECOGNITION by Fabrica (Angelo Semeraro, Coralie Gourguechon and Monica Lanaro)The four shortlisted were chosen from over 200 entries by a panel comprising the following high-profile individuals and industry experts:
Paul Benun, CCO, Somethin’ Else
Alex Farqhuarson, Director, Tate Britain
Eric Horvitz, Director, Microsoft Research Lab at Redmond
Marguerite Humeau, artist
Aleks Krotoski, journalist and broadcasterMICROSOFT
Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) is the leading platform and productivity company for the mobile-first, cloud-first world, and its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.THE PORTER FOUNDATION
Irene Kreitman was a generous philanthropist and longstanding supporter of Tate. She served as a volunteer for more than 25 years and was always interested in helping people to engage with and be inspired by art. She and her husband, Hyman Kreitman, funded a number of acquisitions, especially in the field of modern British art, as well as the creation of the Hyman Kreitman Research Centre at Tate Britain.
