Representing Robots and AI in the Creative Arts Syposium

Image: Kathryn Brimblecombe-Fox, Shadow Litter (detail), Gouache on paper, 21 x 30cm, 2023.

With their origins in arts and culture, robots have been in assemblage with their human collaborators for hundreds of years. Following the emergence of generative AI, discussions of ‘humanness’ and the importance of ‘sentience’ become significant: can they be more than their programming? As engineering and human-computer interaction tells us, sentient robots are not here, and still not overly close. Given this disjuncture, the symposium brings together industry creatives with performance, creative arts, robotics, and human-centred AI scholars to discuss the possibilities of social robotics and AI. As Kathryn Brimblecombe-Fox examines in Shadow Litter, how do we engage with the connections between the robots and humans? We will also discuss the implications for performance and creative arts practitioners, what theatre and the creative arts can offer our engineering colleagues, how to reconcile possibilities versus our aspirations, and ask does the disjuncture actually matter?

In a hybrid event, with two discussion-based panels, a diverse range of experts will engage with these questions and participate in a facilitated conversation and Q&A with the larger group of delegates. We plan for a central one hub in Brisbane, and other hubs across the region.

Program (in AEST)

Welcome and introductions (9:00 - 9.30)

AI and the Creative Arts (9:30-10:30)

Morning team (10.30 - 11:00)

Social Robotics and the Creative Arts (11:00 - 12:00)

Discussion (12:00 - 1:00)

Presenters include:

• Aleks Michalewicz [University of Melbourne]

• Elena Vella [Swinburne University]

• Goran Duric [University of Melbourne]

• Janet Wiles [University of Queensland]

• Kathryn Brimblecombe-Fox [University of Queensland]

• Leah Henrickson [University of Queensland]

• Lewis Treston [UQ/Counterpilot]

• Max Athans

• Nathan Sibthorpe [Counterpilot]

• Pauline Pounds [University of Queensland]

• Robert Walton [University of Melbourne]

• Yaron Shyldkrot [Leeds University]

Supported by The School of Communication and Arts (University of Queensland), Centre for Digital Cultures & Societies (UQ), and Research Centre in Creative Arts and Human Flourishing (UQ), this is a meeting of the Technologies in Performance Working Group of the Australasian Association of Theatre, Drama and Performance Studies.

If you are attending in person in Brisbane, there is paid parking at the Avalon. Please access the car park via Macquarie Street. Public transport is available via buses up Sir Fred Schonell Drive, and there is a City Cat stop at Gyatt Park.

If you are attending online, a zoom link will be provided via email in the week before the event. When you register, you will be asked if you would like to host or attend a hub in your city or town.