Background
To understand the criteria DDAMA applies to the Conveneo Human After All Artprize, we must first revisit the ideas that gave rise to the Dutch Digital Art Museum Almere (DDAMA), founded in 2016. It should also be noted that DDAMA does not have sole decision-making authority; please refer to the ‘Submission and Assessment’ section on the Conveneo website.
From the very beginning, DDAMA has embraced the so-called ‘Pippi Langkous philosophy’: “I have never done it before, so I think I can do it.” DDAMA was launched in 2016, following an offer from the WTC in Almere to organize a cultural event on one of its vacant floors. Since 2013, Almere—a new city that already had a population of 220,000—had been without an art museum. As an idealistic art historian with an affinity for and knowledge of digital art, I believed that a digital art museum would be a perfect fit for a city with so many ‘digital natives.’
This made DDAMA the first digital art museum in the Netherlands. It was, in effect, an exercise in spontaneous pioneering—something that is generally frowned upon in the museum and art worlds. The requirements for business, policy, marketing, and artistic content plans—not to mention compliance codes and a host of other stipulations—are becoming increasingly time-consuming, especially when it comes to securing subsidies. On top of that, everything has to be tailored to align with the art policy plans of civil servants. Where is the respect for artistic freedom?
As a digital art museum, we drew inspiration from IT culture methodologies—specifically agile working, a highly suitable and flexible organizational approach. It operates using short cycles, or "sprints," allowing us to respond optimally to insights gained during a project's development. This prioritizes human interaction over processes and tools—bringing a human face to the IT world.
This method provides the freedom and scope not only to get the museum itself off the ground, but also to organize exhibitions and projects centered on themes that are still relatively unexplored. We prefer to work "in the eye of the storm." When NFTs became a hot topic in 2022, we organized "The Beeple Room: The NFT Hype"—an initiative that immediately made the national news (NOS Journaal). Other notable projects followed, such as "Open Source Mentality" and "The Algorithmic Beauty of Plants." These were incredibly educational and exciting processes.
Guided by this same philosophy, we are now embarking on a collaborative venture: the "Conveneo Human After All Art Prize."
Egbert van de Coevering, a DDAMA board member, founder of the Human After All Prize, initiated the project from his own struggle with the rapidly growing influence of AI and the increasing pressure to replace human work wherever possible. Rather than resisting technological progress, he wanted to demonstrate that some of our most valuable qualities remain uniquely human.
It is an exciting experiment for both DDAMA and Conveneo. We are learning as we go and inviting everyone to participate in the organization on a voluntary basis. We are calling on digital artists and creatives from various disciplines to submit digital artworks, based on the theme "AI, Human After All." Interest is already high, both domestically and internationally.
Drs. Christine van Stralen
Managing director/curator DDAMA