CalArts and Chanel Launch AI-Focused Centre to Place Artists in the Vanguard of Technological Change
The centre will provide students and faculty access to equipment and software on the bleeding edge of AI and machine learning. Save to My Ocula
Luxury brand Chanel is funding a major initiative that will give artists a chance to innovate on and work alongside emerging technologies.
California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) and Chanel’s Culture Fund have announced an art centre focused on artificial intelligence, machine learning, and digital imaging, scheduled to begin construction this fall.
Reported as the first initiative of its kind at a private school, the project aims to put artists ‘at the forefront of shaping the evolving technologies that define our world’.
Chanel Center for Arts and Technology will offer students, faculty, and visiting fellows access to cutting-edge equipment and software, alongside know-how from technologist staff and visiting experts.
The centre will hold a yearly forum to communicate its findings.
Fellows will be selected from CalArts’ network and artists Chanel have supported over the years, including accomplished names like Cao Fei, Arthur Jafa, and William Kentridge.
Yana Peel, Chanel’s global head of arts and culture, said artists have always revealed what’s next through the constant evolution of new ideas.
‘In the ever-changing age of AI, the [Center] will enable and encourage creatives across disciplines to harness that innovation—to take human imagination further than ever before.’
Meanwhile, CalArts president Ravi S. Rajan said creating ‘game-changing’ initiatives’ has always been in the school’s DNA. ‘Through the Chanel Center for Artists and Technology, CalArts will continue this legacy by helping define the future of technology in the arts.’
Founded by Walt and Roy Disney in 1961, CalArts counts amongst its graduates and attendees prominent artists like Mark Bradford, David Hammons, Mike Kelley, Catherine Opie, David Salle, Jim Shaw, and Carrie Mae Weems, and filmmakers Tim Burton and Sofia Coppola. —[O]
Main image: Main building at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), Santa Clarita. Courtesy CalArts. Photo: Scott Groller.
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