The last 10 years have been tough for Russian civil society: rotation of political power was violated by the ruling regime. Opposition politicians became persecuted. Freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of the media are roughly constrained by the new laws. Because of constant suppression, people are afraid to show their political opinion or to support opposition movements. Under these complicated conditions, one of the social groups got a chance to serve a voice of liberation – digital media artists. Their hidden messages are sometimes elusive for the government so that the message eludes people in power and goes directly to the receivers. In the end, digital media artists can become a voice of freedom and unite the people for a bigger social change.

1. Speak Out — Speak Digital
#SpeakDigital
#DigitalArt
#ChooseYouAgenda

2. ● You live in the dictatorship (󰐮)
● All opposition politicians are persecuted
● Freedom of speech is constrained by
the law
● People are afraid of showing their
political opinion
● Your salary is only enough for basic
needs
● You do not agree with the regime and
want changes
What are you going to do?
LET’S IMAGINE

3. YOUR OPTIONS
C
B
A PROTEST
SHOW OPINION
ONLINE
GET MEDIA
SUPPORT
Beaten by police.
Dismissed. Arrested or
sentenced.
GAME
OVER
GAME
OVER
GAME
OVER
Arrested or sentenced.
Listed as a terrorist or
foreign agent.
Listed as a foreign agent.
Fined. Overseen by police.

4. ABSTRACT
METAPHORICAL
The ideas are elusive and can be read
in a different ways
FAST SPREADING
Gets right to the point, expresses
unspoken things
Through portable devices and trustworthy
platforms that available for everyone
MAYBE STEALTH RESISTANCE?

5. STEALTH LANGUAGE IS…
DIGITAL ART
Digital Art can become a voice of freedom
and unite the people for a bigger social
change.
But what is the platform for such a change?

6. PLATFORM IS…
to preserve the content
from various devices
04
HARD TO BLOCK
ACCESSIBLE
CLOUD STORAGE
LEGAL SUPPORT
for court debates
prepared for the tricks of the
new Russian law
developers-friendly
infrastructure
FLEXIBLE
05
06
MULTIMEDIA
users can create diverse
content

7. PLATFORM IS…
to preserve the content
from various devices
04
HARD TO BLOCK
ACCESSIBLE
CLOUD STORAGE
LEGAL SUPPORT
for court debates
prepared for the tricks of the
new Russian law
developers-friendly
infrastructure
FLEXIBLE
05
06
MULTIMEDIA
users can create diverse
content

8. ● Experienced in avoiding the blocking
& fighting against prosecutions
● Servers are not in Russia
● Accessible from browser, mobile and
web apps
● Has streaming, video, photo
functions, and etc.
● Big cloud storage for data
● #1 messenger in Russia, installed on
a lot of devices
● Infrastructure for Chatbots
developing
● Has a symbolic meaning
TELEGRAM

9. built on the principles of machine
learning, this AI-ArtBot is designed to
transform multimedia documentary
content into works of art
PROTOTYPE
TELEGRAM
BASED ARTBOT

10. HOW IT WORKS
AI BLACK BOX
__________
TG CHATBOT

11. TECH REFERENCE
“Nikolay Ironov”
Russian AI designer made by Art. Lebedev Studio
● develops artistic designs by
learning the brand info
● can replace a human at every
stage of creating an identity
● designs unique pieces
comparing existing visuals

12. AFTER PLATFORM IS DONE
Word of mouth, local Telegram-channels, local politicians’ platforms
Of like-minded people and organizations (Telegram, Group-IB, and others)
Usage of the product during protests, court hearings, mass detentions
We are prepared for cyber attacks and data leakages. Warned - is forearmed
ONLINE DISTRIBUTION
ENLIST THE SUPPORT
DATA COLLECTION
PRESERVATION & PROCESSING

13. AI-GNRTED
ART
Harder to shut down bc of
distributed server
ONLINE
SPACE
We don’t show the banned
content, but process it
artistically
Visitors will see documentary
shots that gvrmt hides by
interpreting the AI art back
DECODING
Exhibition builds a true image
of the political situation
through the crowd
REAL
AGENDA
HOW DATA CAN BE USED-1
DIGITAL
ART
EXHIBITION

14. AI-GNRTED
ART
Harder to shut down bc of
distributed server
ONLINE
SPACE
We don’t show the banned
content, but process it
artistically
Visitors will see documentary
shots that gvrmt hides by
interpreting the AI art back
DECODING
Exhibition builds a true image
of the political situation
through the crowd
REAL
AGENDA
HOW DATA CAN BE USED-2
DIGITAL
ART
EXHIBITION

15. HOW EXHIBITIONS WORKS
AI-processing
1. Multimedia
documentary
material
2. Database of
AI-generated
multimedia pieces
3. Online Digital
Art exhibition
Artistic
processing &
curatorship

16. REFERENCES
“2nd Garage Triennial of Russian Contemporary Art”
Garage Museum, Moscow 2021
c
“Encoding Cultures: Living Amongst Intelligent
Machines” ZKM, Karlsruhe 2019
“New elements”, New Tretyakov Gallery 2021 "WIPO: AI and IP, A Virtual Experience", online
exhibition WIPO 2021

17. EXHIBITION INTENTIONS
● Give a voice to suppressed people
● Expose a true agenda
● Hear each other out
● Get motivation to bring the long-awaited
change

18. BEFORE YOU ASKED
It’s a great question for our IT developers and IT stakeholders. We
will try to avoid data leakages, cyber attacks, and platform hacks
via numerous cyber security methods.
How you protect the personal data?
How you build the trust?
By collaborating with organizations with the same values (e.g.
Telegram, Bellingcat) and by distributing information about the IT
product through the local channels.

19. BEFORE YOU ASKED
What if pro-Putin’s Bots attack the platform?
It means our project succeed! We all are excited to decode the artworks and
see who was the actual audience of the platform.
Who are your people of interest?
Users: suppressed groups of Russian society. Developers: independent
programmers and hacktivists, media artists and independent gallerist.
Stakeholders: YOU

20. Ready to start?