Call for Abstracts

(based on the call for topics)

Abstract submission (closed)

deadline 28 February 2019
extended deadline 15 March 2019

The 2nd edition of the POM Conference on Art/Conflict, POM Beirut 2019 will be hosted by the Institute of Visual Communication (IVC) under the Fine Arts & Design Department in collaboration with the Communication Arts and the Computer Science departments at the International University (IU) – Beirut campus, Lebanon, June 11-14, 2019.

POM Beirut will comprise four days of conferences with 10 tracks (listed below) of paper sessions, panels, workshops, exhibitions, and keynote speakers.

The tracks were generated based on the first call for topics contextualized under wide analysis/reflections/perspectives concerning a wide range of art/conflict issues that took into consideration the general conference description and profile.

POM Beirut Tracks

(based on the call for topics)

Based on the first call for topics, the call is now open for individual submissions within the following tracks:

01.Track: Arab revolutions: Refugees, Communication technology, Mobile connectivity.
02.Track: Terrorism machines: Art production, Sociopolitical implications.
03.Track: Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR 4.0): Art, Cyberphysics, Automated creativity.
04.Track: The Battlefield of Vision: Perceptions of War and Wars on Perception.
05.Track: Internet of things: Dystopian Artificial Intelligence, Black Boxes.
06.Track: Living machines: Wars within living organisms.
07.Track: Artificial intelligence for art AIA: Computational creativity, Neural networks, Simulating human activity.
08.Track: Permanent Telesurveillance: Privacy, data protection, panopticon.
09.Track: The Politics of Evidence: Refugees, Frictions, Sound-representation.
10.Track: Body-politics of the machines: Troubles WITH/IN/OUT art, body, perception, politics, and technology.
11.Track: The Ecosystem Analogy: Machinery of Nature, Borrowed landscapes, Anthropology of the near.

Submission information

last updated January 8th, 2019

Notification of acceptance will be announced by the end of March 2019.

Individual proposals should consist of a 300-word abstract.

All submissions will be reviewed, according to the highest international academic standards.

Submitters should also upload a short bio file, no longer than a ½ page per person.

Please note that there will be a conference fee payable by all participants and delegates of the conference (Fees and packages will be announced in January 2019).

POM Beirut 2019 committees

last updated January 8th, 2019

POM Series executive committee
Dr. Morten SØNDERGAARD and Dr. Laura BELOFF.

POM Beirut 2019 Steering Committee
Dr. Morten SØNDERGAARD, Dr. Laura BELOFF, Dr. Hassan CHOUBASSI, Mr. Joe ELIAS, and Mrs. Sahar CHARARA.

POM Beirut 2019 Organizing Committee
Dr. Hassan CHOUBASSI, Mr. Joe ELIAS, Mrs. Sahar CHARARA, Dr. Fadi YAMMOUT, Dr. Walid RAAD, Ms. Fatima ABOU NASSIF, and Mr. Tarek MOURAD.

Tracks overview

last updated January 8th, 2019

Arab revolutions:
Refugees, Communication technology, Mobile connectivity.

Track 01 | Chairs Hassan Choubassi, Joe Elias.

The implication of media augmentation within the context of the Arab revolutions, how the image of media augmentation continues to amass the dreads and worries of the modernist when concerned with industrial technologies of production? It exemplifies yet another burden on the masses in the economy, consumption, and psychological manipulation, in dumbing down and in political oppression, until its explosion physically and violently in the Arab world in what is called the “Arab Spring”.

Terrorism machines:
Art production, Sociopolitical implications.

Track 02 | Chair Afif Arabi, Zena Meskaoui

The terrorist groups that sprout just after the burst of the revolt of the population in several Arab countries drifted the revolutionary act away from its goals into radical ideologies with specified agendas controlled and manipulated by different international parties that took advantage of the chaos.

Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR 4.0):
Art, Cyberphysics, Automated creativity.

Track 03 | Chair Bassam Hussein

New technologies of smart spaces started what is agreed to be called the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” IR 4.0 this has changed ways of lives, work and relationship among people. Because of cyber-physical systems, smart spaces and the Internet of Systems was introduced in industries and workplaces, connect machines and people, visualize chains of production and make autonomous choices.

The Battlefield of Vision:
Perceptions of War and Wars on Perception.

Track 04 | Chair Matt Wraith

The US military strategy of ‘Rapid Dominance’ summarises its aim as being ‘to affect the will, perception, and understanding of the adversary to fight or re… through imposing a regime of Shock and Awe… [to] paralyze or so overload an adversary’s perceptions and understanding of events that the enemy would be incapable of resistance…’

Internet of things:
Dystopian Artificial Intelligence, Black Boxes.

Track 05 | Chairs Alia Ghaddar, Fadi Yammout, Helena Nikonole.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is increasingly integrated with the daily life real world. It is playing an essential role in the advancement of living spaces from smart buildings to smart cities. Beyond the current hype, IoT is undoubtedly affecting all sectors at a rapid pace: companies, industries, and the economy. This track looks to address the critical role that IoT plays in the next generation information and communication systems. The aim is to highlight the opportunities that IoT creates for new products, services, and business models and how people harness its potential (creating smarter products, delivering intelligent insights and providing new business outcomes).

Living machines:
Wars within living organisms.

Track 06 | Chairs Laura Beloff, Nora Vaage, Clarissa Ribeiro.

The idea that living things can be viewed as machines has a long history, stretching back to antiquity. In the 20th century, technological and social developments such as the rise of cybernetics meant biological organisms and the natural environment could be viewed as feedback mechanisms and regulatory systems.

Artificial intelligence for art AIA:
Computational creativity, Neural networks, Simulating human activity.

Track 07 | Chair Robert B. Lisek.

We observe the success of artificial neural networks in simulating human performance on a number of tasks: such as image recognition, natural language processing, etc. However, There are limits to state-of-the-art AI that separate it from human-like intelligence.  Today’s AI algorithms are limited in how much previous knowledge they are able to keep through each new training phase and how much they can reuse. In practice, this means that it is necessary to build and adjust new algorithms to every new particular task. This is closer to a sophisticated data processing than to real intelligence. This is why research concerning generalization are becoming increasingly important.

Permanent Telesurveillance:
Privacy, Data Protection, Panopticon.

Track 08 | Chairs Mireille Makary, Imad ElZein.

The privacy issue has become so much more evident in the computer age. Computer privacy has become a huge concern as we are increasingly using high tech devices and sharing public computers or Internet access points for personal and business purposes. Computer privacy is involved with operating system security, data encryption, access control mechanisms, database protection, network security, and other aspects of protection in computer systems.

The Politics of Evidence:
Refugees, Frictions, Sound-representation.

Track 09 | Chairs Morten Søndergaard, Luz Maria Sanchez, Monica Bassbous.

The context of representation is essential when turning data about geopolitical conditions such as the current refugee situation, into a knowledge based on which we can relate to and negotiate that situation. We cannot access or work with pure data as it is, we need a representation of it, for instance, statistic tables, graphics, auditory displays or way of making the data appear to our senses. Data does not exist outside its mediation. Following this line of thought the medium by which data is represented is significant to both our scientific research of data and our scientific understanding of the world as well as to the common public ideas of what data is, or what ‘the world’ – for instance that of the refugee, departing and traveling – is.

Body-politics of the machines:
Troubles WITH/IN/OUT art, Body, Perception, Politics, and Technology.

Track 10 – Chairs Ingrid Cogne and Patrícia J. Reis.

Within the cross-disciplinary research field art – science – technology, it has been widely remarked how the proliferation of new technologies affects human and non-human bodies in multiple ways—including perceptually, intellectually, culturally, socially, environmentally, ecologically, ethically, and politically.

The Ecosystem Analogy:
Machinery of Nature, Borrowed landscapes, Anthropology of the near.

Track 11 | Chairs Thomas Patrick Pringle, Tarek Mourad, Theo Lepage-Richer.

In 1981, Eugene Odum and Bernard Patten argued that “ecosystems are cybernetic.”

Cybernetics—the informational control of energy—afforded the universal logic of systemic self-regulation that allegedly spanned nature and machines: “Analogy” between biophysical processes and informationally governed technological systems, “and the willingness to accept [analogy], are the keys to identifying the cybernetic machinery of the ecosystem” (888).

BCS - The Chartered Institute of IT

POM Beirut 2019 proceedings will be published at the BCS British Computer Society - The Chartered Institute of IT (eWic platform).