Workshop #20 – Neural Networks

Neural Networks – Workshop #20 is an art and science workshop that is part of the project Conexiones en la Frontera co-funded by the Fundación Española para la Ciencia y la Tecnología (FECYT) and co-led by the Fundación Épica la Fura dels Baus (EPICA) and the Health and Mental Illness research group of the Instituto de Investigación Germans Trias i Pujol (IGTP). The project is based on the combination of scientific excellence and the performing arts as a common language to generate scientific dissemination from experience, artistic research in new creative formats and scientific experimentation through humans simulations. In addition to neurologists and psychiatrists from the IGTP (Research Group on Health and Mental Illness) and the Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques de Barcelona, CSIC, engineers and technologists with expertise in Artificial Intelligence from the Computer Vision Centre will participate in the project together with 30 selected creatives.

The Fundación Épica grants 30 SELECTED creatives to participate in the art-science workshop that will take place between May 6 and 27, 2024, both days included. 

The workshop, which addresses the topic of neural networks, aims to investigate how psychiatrists observe our sick brain and how computer scientists solve problems in their artificial neural networks or AIs. This comparison will allow researchers to see similarities or divergences in the way they fix their problems. In this workshop we will try to make a representation of these processes, designing and presenting an experience based on the language and methodology of La Fura dels Baus and the scientific knowledge provided by different research groups. 

The workshop has two phases, the first online and the second face-to-face and intensive, as follows: 

PHASE 1 (online) – Knowledge transfer sessions. (May 6th, 7th and 8th) The first phase of the workshop, organized in different online sessions, will define the knowledge on which the workshop will be based. The Computer Vision Center, the Department of Psychiatry of the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute, the Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques de Barcelona, CSIC will provide sessions  in which their field of work and specific challenges and/or objectives related to this workshop will be presented. This information will help participants to work and develop ideas and concepts essential for phase 2. 

PHASE 2 (Face-to-face and intensive) – Conceptualisation, design and public presentation. (From May 13th to 27th) In this phase of the workshop, participants will have to fully develop in two weeks an experience to be presented to the invited public accompanied by the Fundación Epica team and its expert researchers.

In this workshop, in addition to the 30 creative participants and the team from the Fundación Épica, researchers from IGTP, the Institute for Biomedical Research of Barcelona – CSIC, and the Computer Vision Center will also take part. These research groups will propose their own objectives and challenges within the framework of the workshop.

Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP)
Dr. Jorge Cuevas and Dr. Maria Iglesias from the Mental Health and Illness Research Group at IGTP will explore changes in emotional processing under the effects of CBD during this workshop. Participants will be divided into two groups: one will receive CBD, and the other a placebo. By comparing the data from both groups, the researchers aim to observe any significant changes in emotional processing.

After two weeks of co-creation, the time came to present all the work done. The workshop culminated in an immersive and performative showcase where the 30 creatives shared with the audience what they had previously learned from the experts.

The Physicality of AI
The showcase began with a series of initial questions: Can AI have physicality? Can it be touched? What would it look like? The first group developed a concept in which the audience itself decided what an AI would look like. This culminated in a final exhibition where a humanoid AI was displayed, printed using a large 3D printer.

Schizophrenia Test for AI
In the second part of the showcase, an artificial intelligence was subjected to a schizophrenia test. The results were so surprising that an attempt was made to show the audience how the AI itself might experience a schizophrenic episode, recreating this situation visually and interactively.

Schizophrenia in Society
The third group addressed how schizophrenia continues to be a taboo in our society. They proposed the use of AI as a possible tool to support people suffering from this condition. However, they emphasized the importance of human contact, highlighting that it remains irreplaceable and essential for everyone.

Is AI Good or Bad?
Finally, one of the big questions that concerns us all was posed: Is artificial intelligence good or bad? The fourth group aimed to demonstrate that it cannot be inherently labeled as good or bad; it all depends on how humans use it.

The Neural Networks workshop concluded with a “performaforum,” where the audience had the opportunity to ask questions to both experts and creatives, resolving any doubts about the experience they had lived.

Although each project is unique, some of the previous experiences are referenced below along with their results in audiovisual format and in some cases as scientific publications: 

Supervivencia vs Resiliencia (2022) 
Introduction 
Escena I – Grafeno 
Escena II – Fake News
Escena III – Manipulación Neuronal
Escena IV – Roles y Memoria
 
European Performing Science Night workshop (2021) 
Performance video 
Impact Assessment videos
Scientific publication
 
Complex Systems workshop (2019):
Creation Process video
Performance video
Performaforum video
Scientific publication