ABOUT
Ephemerals is a Brussels based curatorial initiative that aims to counter and queer AI surveillance technologies by showcasing discursive art practices in texts, exhibitions, talks, and screenings.AI algorithms can discern and identify groups of people and target them with ads, fake news, political messages, or even weapons. These technological novelties increase the power of private companies and governments, intensify polarization, and disproportionately affect marginalized identities. They are therefore a major threat to privacy, civil liberties, social justice, and democracy.
Ephemerals wants to raise awareness and contribute to the ethical discourse around AI surveillance technologies by showcasing art practices that critically engage with these issues and imagine alternative possibilities.
A PROJECT BY
Yorgos Karras is an art historian, communication specialist, and photography enthusiast interested in how art intersects with social change, technology, and queer theory. He explores how artistic practices can shed light on the social and ethical implications of emerging technologies, and how these shape power, influence societies, and affect marginalized communities. He examined art as a tool for social and political change in the work of the Japanese collective Provoke (1968–1970), analyzing their anti-authoritarian and avant-garde use of photography as a way to challenge hegemonies and imagine new realities. He later worked on a PhD project focused on artificial intelligence and surveillance studies through subversive contemporary art and queer theory.
Yorgos holds a Bachelor in Communication from Erasmushogeschool Brussel and a Master in Art History and Archaeology from the Free University of Brussels (VUB). He gained experience through roles at argos, centre for audiovisual art, Privacy Salon, the Free University of Brussels (VUB), the Brussels Museum of Mill and Food, and non-profit organizations.