The first edition of the competition, promoted by the URV’s Cinema Society, has been a success with 132 entries from around the world

A total of 132 audiovisual works participated in the first edition of the “Speaking Posthumanly” International Videocreation Contest, which on Wednesday hosted the awards ceremony and screenings of the winning creations. The competition, based on video creation around artificial intelligence (AI+), is an initiative promoted by the Cinema and Audiovisual Arts Society of the URV, together with the Mèdol–Centre for Contemporary Arts of Tarragona, the Art and Media Platform, and the Santiago de Chile Media Arts Biennale. Bringing together artists from all over the world, “Speaking Posthumanly” has established itself in its first year as a leading forum for inviting critical reflection on the technological and ethical limits of artificial intelligence in the audiovisual world.

In this first edition, where the jury highlighted the high quality of the works presented, three thematic categories were explored that examine the different human and technological relationships with AI. The jury, made up of Alexis Llerena, Ivana Peric, Federica Matelli, Vicent Fibla, and Núria Araüna, was responsible for selecting the winners in each of the categories.

Category A focused on the human-animal relationship, exploring whether AI could or could not fit into this coexistence between species. The winner in this category was Sebastián Arriagada with the work Zoológico imaginario (2024), which the jury noted for the way it addresses this contrast “between the human obsession with artificial intelligence and the disconnection with other species that inhabit the planet.”

Category B aimed to explore technology for caregiving, the technological hybridization with the body, and the ethical dilemmas these practices present. The category was won by Ariadna Mangrané with her film Eliza (2023), a work that focuses on the dangers of the psychotherapeutic uses being assigned to AI, blurring the boundary between the humanization of technology and the mechanization of the human.

Category C explored the impact of artificial intelligence on self-representation and the tendency toward obsession with controlling one’s own image and external perceptions. The winning work in this category was A000000000001000AA011(2021), by Lilia Li-Mi-Yan and Katherina Sadovsky, a piece that, according to the jury, managed to “link self-representation with identity and memory and express the potential ambiguity of the posthuman subject.”

The special Universitat Rovira i Virgili Award was given to Mireia Aguado, a former URV student, for Me mirabas (2024), a “fresh perspective” on the consequences of social networks on the mental health of young people. Finally, the special mention went to Rodrigo Robledo Maturana for El humano artificial perfecto (2024).