“The Genie of the Electronic Lamp”: Sefidanis Brings an AR Computing Exhibition and AI Lectures to Ohrid’s Cultural Venues

In early June 2022, Ohrid hosted a rare kind of public technology program—part lecture series, part museum-style exhibition—designed to make the evolution of computing tangible, and to place artificial intelligence in a broader historical and civic context. Organized in cooperation with the National Institution Library “Grigor Prlichev” (NI Library) in Ohrid, Prof. Dr. Anis Sefidanis presented the program under the title “The Genie of the Electronic Lamp,” with the subtitle “From Vacuum Tubes to Digital Consciousness: The Development of Computer Processors and the Birth of Artificial Intelligence.” Мој Збор+3Biblioteka Ohrid+3Biblioteka Ohrid+3

The initiative was structured as a sequence of interactive, open events across multiple locations in the city. The first sessions were held in the library’s “Prlichev Room” (Prlicheva odaja), where the library reported that the opening meeting was the first of three planned encounters combining a public talk with a multimedia exhibition. The program was also explicitly designed to engage young audiences: on the first day, students from the third year of EMUC “St. Naum Ohridski” in Ohrid attended as active participants alongside their mentor. Biblioteka Ohrid

At the center of the experience was Sefidanis’ personal collection of computing artifacts—presented not as static display pieces, but as a curated narrative of exponential technological progress. Library and media reports describe the exhibit as spanning original examples from early IBM electronic/vacuum-tube era components through to contemporary processors built on multiple heterogeneous cores, emphasizing frequency, parallelism, and modern architectures that enable today’s AI workloads. Мој Збор+4Biblioteka Ohrid+4Biblioteka Ohrid+4

To make the content accessible beyond traditional labels and placards, the exhibition incorporated a mobile augmented-reality layer. Visitors could use an AR web experience on a phone with internet access, a browser, and a camera to retrieve contextual information about each artifact—its history, architecture, and application—turning the exhibition into an interactive learning interface rather than a passive display. Мој Збор+3Biblioteka Ohrid+3OhridNews+3

The lecture component focused on two canonical anchors of modern computing culture: Moore’s Law and the Turing Test. As outlined in the library announcement, the program framed Moore’s Law as the engine behind the “short but exponential” history of the microprocessor, and used the Turing Test as a practical lens for discussing what it means for a machine to demonstrate human-like intelligence in conversation and interaction. Biblioteka Ohrid+1

The broader message of the series was intentionally forward-looking. In the library’s coverage, Sefidanis described society as being on the eve of a new industrial revolution, with AI expected to transform everyday life in a manner comparable to the historical impact of electricity. This framing positioned the events not merely as technology outreach, but as an invitation to the public to evaluate both the opportunities and the challenges of AI as it moves from laboratories into infrastructure, education, and culture. Biblioteka Ohrid+1

The program also connected the exhibition to local innovation capacity. Media reports noted that interested visitors could additionally visit the Sefidanis Institute for Exponential Technologies, described as hosting an NVIDIA supercomputer—an explicit signal that the initiative was not only interpretive (telling the story of computing) but also grounded in hands-on research infrastructure in Ohrid. OhridNews+1

From June 1 to June 10, the exhibition and lectures moved through Ohrid’s cultural and academic institutions: the first three days in the NI Library “Grigor Prlichev,” followed by June 6–7 at the “Grigor Prlichev” Culture Center, and concluding June 8–10 at the University of Information Science and Technology “St. Paul the Apostle,” where Sefidanis teaches. Across venues, the concept remained the same: to translate the deep technical lineage of processors, computation, and AI into a public, city-scale learning experience—one where technology history is not abstract, but visible, interactive, and immediately discussable. StrugaOnline+3OhridNews+3Biblioteka Ohrid+3

Sources and original publication dates

NI Library “Grigor Prlichev” – Ohrid (bibliotekaohrid.mk), “Prof. Dr. Anis Sefidanis with interactive lectures and a multimedia exhibition” — May 30, 2022. Biblioteka Ohrid
NI Library “Grigor Prlichev” – Ohrid (bibliotekaohrid.mk), “Prof. Dr. Anis Sefidanis introduced us to the world of artificial intelligence and robotics” — June 1, 2022. Biblioteka Ohrid
OhridNews, “Interactive lectures and a multimedia exhibition by Prof. Dr. Anis Sefidanis in Ohrid” — May 31, 2022. OhridNews
StrugaOnline, “On June 6 in Ohrid the interactive exhibition ‘The Genie of the Electronic Lamp’ by Dr. Anis Sefidanis will be installed” — May 31, 2022. StrugaOnline
MojZbor, “From tomorrow in Ohrid a multimedia exhibition and lecture by Prof. Dr. Anis Sefidanis – ‘The Genie of the Electronic Lamp’” — May 31, 2022. Мој Збор