In the era in which infinite interconnection has diluted territorial borders, the concept of capital is in dizzying evolution. Thus, the capitals, in any area, would belong more to those who work on them –a Cervantine maxim that has not lost its validity– than to those who exercise them by right acquired at the beginning of time.
At a time when it is close to deciding whether or not Barcelona will renew its cultural and scientific co-capital status – for this to happen certain results must be given in the municipal and general elections – the city also aspires to recognition in some areas in which it stands out. The elections next Sunday can be decisive, but there is life beyond politics.
For example, Barcelona is risking its valuation as one of the capitals of digital art. Or, to put it in a less reductionist way, as one of the cities where the confluence between science and the arts is generating a more suggestive conversation.
It will be positive to continue debating how this bet should be carried out, but perhaps it will be more practical to assume that there is a path already traced by which to travel. With a roadmap that has Sónar D as its main reference, a branch of the music festival that is now thirty years old.
Edition after edition, Sónar D has been achieving not only the complicity of other cultural agents, but also infiltrating the city's scientific and technological ecosystem, providing a platform and an audience for specialists who would otherwise continue to be confined to the limited scope of their faculties. .
In this year's edition, in June, Sónar D will enter fully into the debate on the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) in the arts –a field that it has been exploring for years–, but it will also address its ethical implications.
Thus, from culture, a challenge is affected, to make Barcelona a reference city in technological humanism, which has not been fully played out from the political sphere.
For this and other reasons, next June will serve to gauge the city's chances of being among the most prominent in Europe when it comes to creating a community of technological art, although, of course, there will be more occasions.
The new edition of Sónar coincides with the Digital Impact exhibition on digital art. Directed by Pep Salazar, it is a foretaste of the new philosophy of those responsible for the DHUB and the Design Museum, Mireia Escobar and José Luis de Vicente.
Sónar and the renovated DHUB are communicating vessels. They are two poles (Montjuïc and Glòries) of the same creative proposal. The example is that a booming collective such as the Domestic Data Streamers participates in both Sónar D 2023 and Digital Impact (in addition to having a work in the CCCB exhibition on Sade).
In the same June –and also in Glòries– Pompeu Fabra University joined these proposals with the RAIN Film Fest, the first European festival of films generated with AI. Promoted by the UPF, it is directed by Jordi Balló and is also part of the Sónar D.
This festival conforms to the pattern of Barcelona as a city-laboratory. Everything remains to be seen. It is not clear what his continuity will be, nor if he will have it. The scheme is deliberately flexible to adapt to the demands of the creators and the public. What public? With what attitude? Who will walk the red carpet (will there be)? Namely.
Proof of the need to adapt to a context that changes with an almost quantum frenzy are the films themselves. Just seven months ago, at the New York counterpart festival, the Runway AI Film Festival, the films barely exceeded one minute, while in Barcelona you can see some of up to 20 minutes.
Despite the fact that there is proven and multidisciplinary talent, Barcelona's commitment to technological art is still poorly articulated. As a cultural promoter with a long history maintains, one cannot yet speak of an ecosystem of art and science, because the very actors in this scene hardly know each other.
Perhaps, at some point, the administrations should really get involved to promote its takeoff. Thus, with public support, is how Ars Electronica de Linz was consolidated, one of the great global references in this field.
It is not about subsidizing a community of artists or giving meaning to cultural institutions that did not have it, but, ultimately, using leadership in technological art to strengthen the image of Barcelona as an innovative city.
