Guest: MANTHIA DIAWARA
Film talk about AI: AFRICAN INTELLIGENCE (2022)
Manthia Diawara in conversation with Monika Szewczyk (Städelschule)
Recording of the event on 28 June 2023 at DFF cinema
Manthia Diawara’s new essay film examines African possession cults, as found in traditional fishing villages along the Senegalese Atlantic coast, in the face of new technologies in the field of artificial intelligence. Focusing on the intertwining of tradition and modernity, Diawara asks how we can move from disembodied machines to a more humane and spiritually informed control of algorithms. Could Africa be the context in which such unlikely algorithms emerge?
The screening of Manthia Diawara’s “AI: AFRICAN INTELLIGENCE” was organized by the Städelschule in cooperation with the DFF . The program was made possible by the generous support of the Hessian Ministry of Higher Education, Research and the Arts within the framework of the QuiS support program. The screening was followed by a short audience discussion with the artist, moderated by Monika Szewczyk.
Szewczyk is a research fellow at the Städelschule for the academic year 2022/2023 and was recently appointed Audain Chief Curator of the Polygon Gallery.
