ART & CULTURE - LEVEL

This talk explores the Sufi understanding of the heart as the seat of true intelligence. It traces how, through a process of self-purification, the heart is made receptive to gnosis, meaning spiritual knowledge. Central to it is a distinction of profound import: the difference between gnosis, which can be gained only through direct, intimate experience, and the discursive knowledge gained by means of rational thought. To bring these ideas to life, this talk draws not only on theoretical treatises, but also on stories, poems and artworks by some of the greatest Sufi masters, vividly illustrating how they articulate the tradition’s epistemological claims.

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### Part II of our three-part series exploring Artificial Intelligence and text, art and music

Presented by B.Earl, a Hollywood writer and producer who has been involved with AI since 2017, our three part series will explore the polarizing conversation around using artificial intelligence as an artistic companion and creative entity. Over the past few years, AI has become the buzzword in every sector as it challenges how we view our roles as humans within society. It has threatened jobs and economic markets, promising future prosperity through unwavering faith in something that has yet to be proven let alone understood.
In Part Two of the series we will be exploring visual AI tools, probably one of the most controversial as well as talked about areas in AI. In the past five years we have seen AI image generation explode across the internet, most recently with OpenAI’s Studio Ghibli trend that took over the news cycle. That said, the press was more negative than positive in many cases, but it showed just how far these models have come in such a short time. With this in mind, we will be unpacking the ethics that come with these situations as well as tracking the current capabilities as more and more AI filmmakers make generative visuals their primary focus.
Just as the phone camera transformed YouTube, AI’s generative models will continue on this trajectory albeit at an even more accelerated rate. These diffusion models give access to powerful creative suites, allowing for a much greater breadth of visual explorations at an expedited production rate. This comes as a double-edged sword, though, since style without substance has the potential to overwhelm the audience with meaningless slop. Art gives us the ability to see life through a poetic lens, layering meaning within our human wants and needs. When this poetry is lost to a deluge of “content” it all becomes white noise, forcing us to have to focus on what is meaningful.
As we take a tour of what is being currently created as well as the direction we are headed, we will go from the simplest text-to-image to much more complex production workflows . In B.Earl’s role as the Head of Technology for his Saudi-based studio, WeirdBunch Entertainment, we will examine companies and technologies that he is currently working with as well as integrating into their own future production workflows. Join us for this controversial series on AI and Art as we drift off into these mechanical dreams while navigating the recursive hallucinations!

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Step into a World of Words: Poetry Reading Night with Matthew Peter-Carter!

Join us for an unforgettable evening where literature comes to life! Amazing actor Matthew Peter-Carter will bring some of the most powerful and thought-provoking poems to life, immersing us in the beauty of language and emotion.

June theme is ‘Care and Compassion‘
Through the selection of poems we will explore what care and compassion mean and how they’re expressed, understood, and valued and will discuss the following pieces:

• Alice Fell, or Poverty – William Wordsworth
• Home – Warson Shire
• Kindness – Naomi Shihab Nye
• Kindness – Sylvia Plath
• Jesus at the Gay Bar – Jay Hulme

No preparation is needed—just bring your curiosity and let the words transport you. We’ll not only listen to these masterpieces read aloud by a professional actor and literature scholar, but also take time to discuss and reflect on how their ideas and emotions are shaped by the power of language.

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The history of quilts is a history of love, resistance and freedom. Typically stitched from scrap cloth into elaborate designs through meticulous hand-stitching, quilt making is the act of transforming the discarded into a treasured textile. It is an art with a history of hardship, innovation and eventual freedom. In the history of the United States, quilts were the art of enslaved Black people who sourced off-cuts from their enslavers or from any fabric they could find to keep their families warm. Quilts were used as fund and awareness raisers by abolitionist Quakers and, in the Suffragette movement, quilts were used to declare the power of ‘women’s work.’ Quilts also contained political messages and stories shared by those who held them. This lecture will give a foundational history of quilt making in the US and Britain from the 19th century onwards, ending with a few contemporary artists who use quilt making to connect our present to a complicated history of racism and women’s liberation.

Image: Freedom Seekers by Precious Lovell

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