In pictures: IDFA DocLab 2024

This year, IDFA DocLab revolved around the theme of This Is Not a Simulation. Can computers think or create something new? Can reality really be virtual? Would we want it to be? As IDFA DocLab celebrated its 18th edition, it was time for a reality check. How are interactive media, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence changing our perception and physical experience of the world around us? Can they offer us more than addictive escapism from a reality that feels increasingly broken?

Alongside IDFA DocLab's main location at de Brakke Grond, the exhibition continued just a short walk away at gallery @droog.

In 2024, artificial Intelligence was having a moment. Not just in popular culture, politics, and tech, but also at IDFA. In this DocLab Playroom, some of the most prolific AI artists and creative technologists at IDFA this year opened the hood of their machines in search of something more human. Instead of giving us endless variations of what we already know, can we ‘break’ the machine and make it say something we actually want it to say? And what happens if, instead of giving prompts, we ourselves are the ones being prompted?

During this DocLab Playroom, Anagram opened up its devising process, offering a unique opportunity to engage with its playful methods even before any technology comes into play. Although technology often plays a crucial role in their projects, Anagram is never just about the technology. This physical, tactile event focused on reimagining the boundaries of the body and invited participants to explore the messy, nonlinear paths creative ideas take.