Events

International Center of Photography

Tuesday, March 19

From 11am – 7pm

Free

Open to the public

The International Center of Photography is pleased to present Seeing Meaning: From Pictographs to AI, a day-long convening organized by Marina Chao, with the generous support of a Curatorial Research Fellowship Grant from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

This public symposium brings together artists, writers, designers, scholars, and researchers to explore the intersections between image and language across disciplines. In light of emergent text-to-image AI tools and the training of machines to process image and language as a single unit, the conflation, simultaneity, and slippages between picture and text—as old as language itself—are particularly visible today. Looking at these relationships from a multitude of perspectives, the speakers raise urgent questions about the ethics of photojournalism in the absence of a photographer-witness and how to navigate the proliferation of misinformation in the media. In their work they weave cognition, vision, and text together in generative ways—touching on sound, speech, citation, transduction, accessibility, spirituality, empathy, and connection—that sheds light on intrinsic but elusive connections between the brain, image, and language. Looking towards the future, they imagine a more compassionate technology guided by ancient knowledge.

Participating speakers include: Bojana Coklyat (artist); Jennifer Daniel (artist, chair of the Emoji Subcommittee for the Unicode Consortium); Shannon Ebner (artist); JJJJJerome Ellis (artist); Sarah Gephart (graphic designer), Anna Gerber (writer and creative consultant); Nicholas Muellner (artist); Haytham Nawar (artist and Associate Professor, The American University in Cairo); Yotam Ophir (Assistant Professor of Communication, University at Buffalo); Fred Ritchin (author, curator, and Dean Emeritus of the School at ICP); Finnegan Shannon (artist); Catherine Taylor (writer and editor); Maria Varkanitsa (Research Assistant Professor, Aphasia Research Laboratory, Boston University)

Talk: Reimagining the Image: Alex Kay Potter

International Center of Photography

Wednesday, March 20

From 6:30 – 8pm

Free

Advanced registration required

Alex Kay Potter, a Minnesota-born photojournalist and nurse, presents her images and experience covering crises in Yemen since 2012. With a focus on civilian unrest, Potter has returned to Yemen frequently, tracking the changes and impact of the war on families and community members. Potter will discuss her time in Yemen as well as new projects, including recent coverage of conflict in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East.

Auction: Heritage: Barbie by David Levinthal Photographs

Online – Artsy

Saturday, March 23

7pm CET (2pm EDT)

Free

Registration required – registration closes Saturday, March 23rd at 10am CDT (11am EDT)

Artsy presents Heritage: Barbie by David Levinthal Photographs, featuring exclusive works by David Levinthal. Please note that a portion of all proceeds from this sale will be donated to the MPTF.