An exhibition of synthetic archives crafted by 11 South African creatives titled Unrecorded Voices, offers a fascinating interactive feature focussed on Artificial Intelligence (AI) at this year’s Playtopia Festival, in Cape Town on 6 and 7 December 2024.
The works on exhibition are the culmination of an explorative AI programme hosted by the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS) in partnership with the French studio u2p050 and Playtopia Festival, Africa’s premier festival and conference dedicated to Indie games and immersive arts, bringing together creators, gamers, and innovators from South Africa and across the globe.
In October this year, IFAS posted an open call to South African creatives, and a diverse range of 11 artists working with varied interests and mediums were selected.
Over one month, these creatives participated in technical workshops, ethical discussions, mentorships, and creative production with experts. Together, they explored the intersection of AI technology with artistic and cultural storytelling.
“In a country with a significant gap in ‘recorded’ archives, where vast portions of historical records remain undisclosed or potentially lost—particularly those passed down orally through generations—we saw this as a compelling and meaningful space to explore,” said Emmanuelle Denavit-Feller, Regional Head of New Media, Film & Music at IFAS. “What if artists could create new or reimagined histories, whether rooted in fiction or fact? And could audience responses be reflected in these works? And importantly, what ethical questions would guide such an endeavour? ”
The cohort includes Chelsi Leonora Goliath, Elize Vossgätter, Henrietta Scholtz, Irish Éire Sloane, Lomawa Elizabeth Maelane, Nhlanhla Michael Dhlamini, Nicola Pilkington, Queer.Space, Siphokazi Matshaka, Vanessa Chen, and Xopher Wallace. Their work will be housed in an interactive and immersive space in which visitors can engage with AR (Augmented Reality), audio, animation and film, three-dimensional audio-visual, as well as printed creative works.
Speaking about the programme, participant Vanessa Chen said, “Through this experience, I developed a deeper understanding of how AI-driven technologies can transform traditional historiography by visually representing marginalised histories that would have otherwise gone unrecorded. This process also prompted me to critically examine the ethical implications of these technologies in shaping our collective memory and history.
I'm grateful for the opportunity to be part of a community of visionary artists who are exploring the intersection of AI and art, harnessing its potential to challenge dominant narratives.”
Thematically the work ranges from otherworldly, mythological, and futuristic narratives including a fabulated underground queer utopia, to factual explorations of the Chinese in the Cape, men’s mental health and the relationship of humans to AI.
“Using AI-generation tools to produce new visual, textural and auditory documentation, this exhibition introduces a new approach to archiving: experimentally documenting unrecorded and marginaliszed histories,” says Emmanuelle Denavit-Feller, Regional Head of New Media, Film & Music at IFAS.
The Unrecorded Voices exhibition, supported by IFAS and the Institut français in Paris, forms part of Novembre Numérique (Digital November), a global initiative celebrating digital cultures.
For more information on Playtopia go to https://playtopiafestival.co.za/
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