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.
Workshop #20 – Neural Networks
Open Call: art – science workshop
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.
Research Groups
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.
Computer Vision Center (CVC) at UAB
Dr. Xim Cerdà, a researcher at the CVC, aims to train an artificial intelligence model using drawings created by workshop participants. The goal is to develop a model capable of demonstrating “its own creativity” that is indistinguishable from human-created drawings.
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Professor Raúl Benítez proposes a challenge to explore pattern recognition learning by humans in comparison to machines. This analysis will help identify and understand the differences between human-to-human and human-to-machine interactions.
Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas de Barcelona – CSIC
Dr. Vicky Puig and Dr. Thomas Gener, regular collaborators in Fundación Épica workshops, propose a challenge focused on collecting and analyzing the different emotional states of workshop participants and members of the fundación. This analysis will provide a comprehensive view of the creative process developed during the workshop.
Sign up for our information session
Next March 21 we will be presenting the project and answering your questions in two online sessions:
March 21 at 12 p.m. (CET) in English (if needed).
March 21 at 6 p.m. (CET) in Spanish.
How to participate in the initiative
Do you want to be part of this learning experience?
Here are the most important details of this call for applications.
Dates of the workshop:
Phase 1: May 6th, 7th and 8th (online).
Phase 2: From May 13th to 27th 2024, both included.
Location: Barcelona
Positions: up to 30 grants available.
Price: This is a training activity with a scholarship (the training is valued at €3.500,00). The scholarship does not include diets, transportation and accommodation expenses, as well as management and registration expenses. The participant, only in case of being selected, must pay the entity when formalizing the registration the amount of €150, which will cover the expenses of management, registration and insurance.
Profiles: The call is aimed at creative people: artists, scientists and technologists, especially those with multidisciplinary and hybrid profiles who want to be part of a disruptive and innovative experience.
Full availability is required during phase 2.
Registration Period: From March 4th to April 4th 2024
Previous experiences
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
SPONSORS / PARTNERS
