Major Topic - Lux Aeterna
Detailed Topics - Aeternitas / Symphonia / Illuminatio / Penumbra
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Lux Aeterna (Eternal Light)
A topic inspired by the literal meaning of the host city Gwangju, “City of Light”, includes subcategories embracing complex themes that allow open interpretations in culture, science, and history. For example, religiously, light implies divinity and immortality. Scientifically, it is an energy collection of particles and wavelength signals. It symbolizes the enlightenment and rationale in humanities. Also, the presence of light creates Umbra and Penumbra. In light of the fact that light is the most specific example of versatility in which various interpretations can occur, it will provide us with the context where cohesion of procedural logic based on the human sensibilities and technology of artistic inspirations is freely presented, which is in line with what ISEA has been pursuing.
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Aeternitas: Eternity of the Mortal
This topic includes various perspectives associated with the eternity of the human being. Humans are finite beings. In contrast to their physicality, their achievements embody transcendental personalities beyond time. Scientific research, on the other hand, denies time transcendence because it is based on the experimental modification. In the near future with the technology’s singularity, humans may have to confront a moment to make a decision whether to physically gain an eternal life or to bestow transcendent personalities upon their traces. We look for works and researches in the theme of eternity and mortality that are inspired by religious, scientific, humanistic, and artistic aspects.
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Symphonia: Harmony of Noise
Since both sound and light are wave-like phenomena (by possessing the characteristics of wavelength), a research topic in both sound and light can be expanded to Vision technology and the Signal Processing in engineering. In fact, there have been emerging opinions about Vision Insight that machines could be more accurate than humans when looking into the essence. However, not only limited to the field of science but also in many other fields, an unrefined signal could open up various possibilities of perspectives in interpreting the nature of collections of data. For example, in Phaidon, Simmias mentions the attunement referring to the remaining sound even after the destruction of Lyre. This topic, involving the two different types of wavelength invites a wide range of researches on light and sound, Data Analysis, Data Visualization that would extract meaningful signals from noise, and harmonization.
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Illuminatio: Enlightenment of A.I (Artificial Intelligence) & A.E (Artificial Emotion)
Eighteenth-century Europe embraced Enlightenment ideals in order to advance culture and civilization by the power of the human intellect and rationale. The influence of the Enlightenment movement in the society is similar to that of Artificial Intelligence(AI) which could happen in the near future-breaking down the old customs and discovering and spreading the universal truth through objective observation. AI has been a controversial topic because it is uncertain how SNN(Spiking Neural Network) that mimics the thinking process of human’s social and artistic brain activity will be able to solve problems. Even if SNN gains the problem-solving ability, various kinds of questions still remain. For example, SNN’s decision-making process and the purpose for solving problems is vague. This topic seeks a type of projects and researches that explores AI’s ability to configure human’s creativity and emotion. In addition, assuming the feasibility of Artificial Emotion (A.E), this topic invites works and research that deal with the essence of a man in the near future.
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Penumbra: In-between
We look for various topics for research that are not mentioned above. Light and shadow are relative concepts. A research that might be deemed a failure for some researchers could be seen as the process of the search for the truth from the perspective of another research field. The topics of the paper mentioned so far are the signposts for guidance and inspiration. However, beyond our narrow point of view, we would like to hear your very own stories. We hope to encounter works and research that are full of imagination and creativity, beyond our limited frame.