Discussion: The Post-Digital Music Video

Digital image never replaced film. Just as the automobile did not replace the horse overnight, nor the bank card cash, new media technologies have generally developed alongside older ones rather than taking their place.

At the same time that the use of artificial intelligence in music videos, films, and contemporary art is rapidly increasing, analogue techniques are experiencing a new renaissance. More and more artists are shooting on film, working with physical materials, and seeking alternatives to the established processes of digital production. Major Hollywood studios have also joined the battle against streaming giants by reviving long-abandoned exhibition formats, from 70 mm to VistaVision.

But are analogue and AI really opposing forces? Or are we instead living through a post-digital moment in which film cameras, digital tools, and generative AI form a new kind of technological ecosystem—one where different technologies coexist on equal terms and actively enrich one another?

The discussion will feature journalist Kalle Kinnunen together with artists Ieva Balode and Marc Richter, both of whom are also participating in the European Music Video Competition. The conversation will be moderated by Joel Karppanen, Artistic Director of the Oulu Music Video Festival and Editor-in-Chief of Taide magazine.

Kalle Kinnunen (b. 1977) is one of Finland's most respected film journalists and has also published numerous non-fiction books on cinema and music. In 2019, he became the first non-filmmaker to receive the Finnish State Prize for Cinematic Art in the award's more than 60-year history.

Ieva Balode (Riga, Latvia) is an artist and curator specializing in analogue photochemical film, and one of the founders of the Riga-based artist collective Baltic Analog Lab. The collective provides a space for the production, research, and teaching of analogue film.

Marc Richter (Hamburg, Germany) is a composer, musician, and visual artist, also known under the artist name Black to Comm and for his visual work as Neue Deutsche Kunst. His music and films have been released by labels including Thrill Jockey, and his AI-assisted work received the MuVi Award at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen in 2024.

The discussion is funded through the AI Productivity project, co-funded by the European Union.