Pilar ASAP
The Posthuman Edition

How does the evolution of our humanity manifest itself? We are becoming increasingly intertwined with digital reality. The immaterial nature of this environment is at the heart of these artists' artistic research. They question human connections, our individual identity, and our relationship to tangible matter in this seemingly immaterial digital world. Curated by Maarten Vanermen.

We are opening PILAR ASAP the Posthuman Edition with Aïsha Devi's upcoming live show with expanded scenography. 

An electrifying evening of music as Iceboy Violet, the boundary-pushing rapper, producer, and performer, takes center stage. Operating at the cutting edge of club music, Iceboy Violet captivates audiences with a powerful blend of defiance, vulnerability, and raw emotion, creating an unforgettable experience for personal and collective catharsis. Join us for an evening curated by Iceboy Violet, where they bring the energy to new heights. Special guests aya and 96 Back will be joining in, ensuring a concert experience that transcends boundaries and leaves you wanting more. 

During this make-a-thon (making things together), Nerdlab takes you into the wonderful world of the possibilities of artificial intelligence. In a short period of time we work intensively together and come up with new ideas with an emphasis on learning to network. The workshop starts with a jointly formulated challenge or problem. We tackle this challenge with the help of Artificial Intelligence, which we use to maximum effect and in many different ways to create solutions or instruments to solve the problem or challenge. At the end of the make-a-thon we present a prototype of a usable and innovative product or a concrete solution.

Delve yourself into two moving  experiences. Berlin-based Dutch-Italian composer and sound designer Grand River creates experimental electronic music with rich emotional colors. An enhanced listening experience with high-impacting melodies, an intangible setting for contemplation and immersion, inviting the spectator to let go. Rhizomes is a collaborative project by the visionary musician Aho Ssan and renowned visual artist Sevi Iko Dømochevsky (Arca, Black Midi, Grimes). This multimedia journey transcends conventional boundaries, propelling the audience into an organic, mutating universe of sound and visuals, pushing the boundaries of artistic expression.

Can a robot ever make theatre and if so, what does this non-human theatre look like? Let’s see what Alex – the robot of Improbotics – makes of it.

Although our robot starts off by performing in the show, the Improbotics players take it one step further rather quickly. All performers are wearing an earpiece with which they can receive Alex’s lines directly into their ears. When Alex takes control of the show like an invisible director and starts puppeteering one of the players as a ‘cyborg’, the audience sometimes doesn’t even know who is controlled by artificial intelligence and who is using their own free will to speak.

Improbotics was developed by computer scientists Piotr Mirowski (UK) and Kory Mathewson (Canada). They built an artificially intelligent chatbot based on models of how language works. These models are created by a computer learning on huge amounts of text with 1,5 billion parameters and a dataset of 8 million webpages. This software can create text by predicting words based on all the previously used words. By finetuning these models on the subtitles of more than 100,000 movies, Alex can not only generate words into sentences, but also talk in dialogues.

Embark on a sonic journey like never before as the groundbreaking trio, KRANKk, takes center stage with their highly anticipated live set, "EXODUS," at PILAR. Following the resounding success of their immersive audio experiences at Pukkelpop and the awe-inspiring GENESIS at deSingel, KRANKk is set to push the boundaries once again, captivating audiences with a mesmerizing fusion of stunning visuals, dynamic lights, and, of course, their signature groundbreaking music.

Due to unforeseen circumstances beyond our control, we have to cancel this event last minute. Ticket holders will have their ticket refunded. Would you like to see KRANKk live? Then be sure to check out their concerts in Antwerp or Ghent.

LIMP is the third part in the Forced Labor series by choreographer Ugo Dehaes. In the first two works, Ugo looked for ways to replace his dancers with robots and himself with Artificial Intelligence. The work was a response to the increasing pressure and cuts within the arts. In LIMP, Ugo investigates how people and technology can go hand in hand and strengthen each other.

In this solo, an amputee dancer is equipped with a robotic foot prosthesis, while the choreographer is assisted by an intelligent and creative computer that will help devise the choreography.

A conversation exploring, from the point of view of artists and scientists, what might be the future of collaboration between humans and robots.

This conversation is presented as part of the Sustainable Robotics artist residency, organised by Ohme in collaboration with BrIAS – Brussels Institute for Advanced Studies and FARI Institute for AI for the common good.

Artists Dewi Brunet and Kris Verdonck, participating in the residency, will present their projects and practices at the frontier between art and robotics, in conversation with Franziska Kirstein and Professor Barry Lennox, international robotics experts from the BrIAS 2024 programme.

Dewi Brunet is a folding artist interested in the sensitive relationship between the living world and robots. This practice is part of the field of Oribotics, a fusion of nature, origami and robotics.

Kris Verdonck explores the societal and ecological impacts of technological advances with a multidisciplinary approach that blends theatrical and visual elements to create unique artistic expressions.

Franziska Kirstein has worked in interdisciplinary teams in the field of Human-Robot Interaction since 2012. Her work combines the robotics industry with academic research in international collaborations, focusing on sustainability in robotics.

Barry Lennox is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and Professor of Applied Control and Decommissioning in Nuclear Engineering at the University of Manchester (UK). He chairs the UK Robotics and Autonomous Systems Network.

The conversation will take place in English. Free entrance after registration (click on button Get Tickets)

Surveillance and privacy permeate the work of artist Dries Depoorter. His work is also about online identity, big data, algorithms and the relationship between people and technology. Depoorter's practice is situated in the twilight zone where art, humor and social criticism come together, and touches the edge of what is (il)legal.

In addition to his artistic practice, Dries Depoorter is also an internationally sought-after speaker.

For Pilar ASAP – The Posthuman Edition we invite Depoorter to the talk 'Surveillance Art, Dying Phones and Fake Likes'.

Brussels based collective and label GIFKIKKER strives for an identity that combines naturalistic and metropolitan-inspired atmospheres. Inducing a blend of obsolete technologies and the forefront of new concepts. For this evening in collaboration with the PILAR ASAP festival which is themed around posthumanism, GIFKIKKER creates a coherent space in sound-and vision. The line-up represents an environment serving as an ecological frontier and introduces the question; "what if nature takes back a concrete landscape"?