European Commission | Alliance Française

Art and new technologies came together during the latest edition of the 83rd Madrid Book Fair through the work of Houda Bakkali. The event, organized by the European Commission in Spain and the Alliance Française de Madrid, took place at the Europe Pavilion, where the public had the opportunity to explore the challenges and opportunities presented by spaces such as virtual reality, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and Web3. Beyond concepts and practical examples, attendees were able to discover some of the uses and applications of these technologies beyond the field of art, as well as their versatility in breaking spatial, temporal, and generational barriers.

During the presentation, attendees were able to take a journey through digital art, discovering the possibilities offered by its multiple platforms for bringing artistic creation into the literary, educational, medical, and cultural fields, among others.

“It has been a great honor to represent the Alliance Française de Madrid (AF) during its 40th anniversary at such an important event that each year showcases the very best of culture in the capital of Spain. An event organized by the European Commission under the motto ‘United in Diversity,’ an idea that perfectly symbolizes the diversity, universality, and versatility of the combination of art and new technologies, as well as the spirit of the Alliance Française. I am very grateful to the AF and the European Commission for their invitation,” comments Bakkali.

During the presentation, attendees were able to take a journey through digital art, discovering the possibilities offered by its multiple platforms for bringing artistic creation into the literary, educational, medical, and cultural fields, among others.

“It has been a great honor to represent the Alliance Française de Madrid (AF) during its 40th anniversary at such an important event that each year showcases the very best of culture in the capital of Spain. An event organized by the European Commission under the motto ‘United in Diversity,’ an idea that perfectly symbolizes the diversity, universality, and versatility of the combination of art and new technologies, as well as the spirit of the Alliance Française. I am very grateful to the AF and the European Commission for their invitation,” comments Bakkali.

“Combining art and new technologies also serves to enhance and optimize content, make it more visually impactful, organize information in a more educational and playful way, foster new forms of communication, and optimize marketing strategies with tools that allow greater control over content, better monitoring, and real-time updates. Greater personalization and traceability help create messages with broader and more meaningful reach,” commented Bakkali during her presentation.

The combination of art and new technologies also makes it possible to bring culture closer to audiences in a much more accessible way, embracing new formats that are more engaging, continuously adaptable, and highly interactive.

“We move from the theoretical to the immersive and enveloping,” said Bakkali. “These new ecosystems allow us to bring art, literature, culture in general, science, and any discipline closer in multiple ways, but with one very important common link: the audience, which becomes involved not only in the message, but also in its creation, becoming a direct and leading part of it. This helps bring our message closer, making it understandable, memorable, and participatory,” says Houda.

One of the main examples presented by the artist to illustrate the use and potential of augmented reality in editorial media was the iconic Italian publication James Magazine. A cover created with the Moët brand comes to life, conveying to the public not only the excellence of James, but also the narrative of the emblematic French champagne.

During the presentation at the Europe Pavilion, Bakkali highlighted the potential of augmented reality across different sectors such as art, education, and medicine.

“I currently have two active exhibitions, one at the AF Abu Dhabi and another at the AF New Delhi,” commented Bakkali. “In both, digital art and the multiple formats I am presenting complement and feed into one another. They help me convey my message dynamically, break stereotypes, give visibility to my work centered on female empowerment and the figure of the Arab woman, share creative and communication tools, and experiment with virtual artistic spaces that, in turn, host multiple messages about art and digital culture. In Abu Dhabi and New Delhi, audiences will be able to access today’s presentation in Madrid in a different way, immerse themselves in it through different media, sounds, and images, meet its protagonists, and even contribute their own ideas, expanding and enriching the discussion without spatial, temporal, or generational barriers. We will be able to surprise them, to entertain them. And vice versa, today you will be able to see the spaces that host my works in Abu Dhabi and New Delhi, enter them, meet their hosts, and continue all the way to the infinite realm of imagination,” concluded Bakkali, who also referred to Web3 spaces and highlighted as an example her three and only NFTs created for the century-old American magazine TIME.

Regarding Web3, Bakkali commented that “it is there, it has its communities, and it can be an additive technology, not only for digital art, but also as a marketing and audience engagement tool, among others.” Concerning the metaverse, she made special mention of these virtual platforms through examples in educational environments, libraries, classrooms, and university courses that have found in these spaces a complementary way to expand audiences.

“In addition to educational and training spaces, the metaverse can also combine other objectives such as strengthening brand identity, facilitating the exchange of digital assets, or complementing marketing and communication strategies by bringing us closer to other targets and communities. As with NFTs, it is only a matter of time before we see their evolution and discover how brands, institutions, and the general public adopt — or do not adopt — their use,” commented Bakkali, who insisted on reminding the audience that digital art is not limited solely to these newer and more newsworthy concepts, but has been with us for decades and is a very broad, versatile, and increasingly everyday discipline.

Referring to artificial intelligence, Bakkali pointed out that: “Alongside the major challenges posed by artificial intelligence, we must also pause to consider its enormous potential in managing data, personalizing information, optimizing processes, and more. I believe that when we do not understand something, that is precisely when we need to be better informed. We must seek information from different sources, compare perspectives, and analyze the broad spectrum of possibilities opening before us.” During the presentation, Bakkali shared several insights into the uses and applications of these new technologies, along with examples and practical cases, concluding that:

“When approaching these highly disruptive technologies, we must think long term. Those of us who create art, create. Technologies are simply tools that facilitate these creative processes, and much will depend on our common sense, our responsibility, our ethical and social commitment, and the talent we have when it comes to creating and communicating positively, with joy and with heart. Technology must be used with attitude — a creative and healthy attitude to make the world more beautiful — and also with a creative attitude to achieve meaningful and useful actions.”

“In art, as in life, everything is a matter of attitude,” commented Bakkali, who concluded her presentation with an excerpt from an exclusive interview with the prestigious cardiologist Josep Brugada, whose voice reminded attendees that “a positive attitude toward life makes overall health positive.”

Currently, Houda Bakkali is exhibiting at the Alliance Française de New Delhi and with great success at the Alliance Française de Abu Dhabi, two exhibitions that seek to exemplify the power of digital art to break spatial, temporal, and generational barriers, creating synergies between different audiences, and universalizing and democratizing art by bringing digital culture into an educational institution with more than 140 years of legacy.

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