On July 3rd, 4th, and 5th, Careof and Fabbrica del Vapore will host xCoAx, a multidisciplinary and international event promoted by Università degli Studi di Bergamo that focuses on computer science, communication, art, and the mysterious “X” factor that connects them.

The trans-disciplinary nature of the initiative arises from the work of a group of researchers and artists from various universities, including, in addition to Università degli Studi di Bergamo, the Universities of Porto and Lisbon in Portugal, and the Bauhaus University of Weimar in Germany. The intersection between technology and art—also a possible interpretation of the “X” in the name of the initiative—is reflected in the most recent developments in the artistic field: an increasing number of creative and cultural works make use of digital tools.

The first edition of xCoAx took place in 2013 in Bergamo, at the Chiostri di Sant’Agostino, where a very stimulating environment was created, in which the contrast between the ancient buildings and the new technologies provided the backdrop for the birth of an international cultural project. This project later moved to Porto (Portugal) in 2014, to Glasgow (Scotland) in 2015, back to Bergamo in 2016, to Lisbon (Portugal) in 2017, and to Madrid (Spain) in 2018. For the 2019 edition, xCoAx arrives in Milan with technical support from Politecnico di Milano and, as has become tradition, the meeting between aesthetics and technology will be accompanied by a collection of artistic works, worthy of being exhibited to the public in a space familiar to them.

The spaces of Careof and Fabbrica del Vapore will thus serve as the setting for the event, hosting a conference reserved for delegates registered in the program (July 4th and 5th), while on Thursday, July 4th, the Sala delle Colonne will host an evening featuring several performances conceived and executed by participants in the project. These performances will play on the interaction between more traditional musical instruments and the graphic and digital reworking typical of computers.

The conference consists of 6 sessions of presentations on various topics, including aesthetics, creativity, artificial intelligence, and digitization, given by university researchers and multimedia artists from around the world.

Some of the delegates will bring their artistic works to xCoAx, which will be exhibited in the spaces of Fabbrica del Vapore. These are highly diverse pieces, but with computer science as their common technological denominator: ranging from video and laser projections to acoustic installations and artifacts with which visitors can interact directly or via their smartphones.

check the xCoAx 2019 program