Serpentine Arts Technologies Celebrates 10 Years

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Serpentine Arts Technologies at London‘s Serpentine announced that this year’s programme will focus on developing AI systems in conversation with artists and the public by leveraging creative R&D and art production.

The department was established a decade ago, in 2014, to explore the impact of technology through art, research, and experimental projects. It supports artists who work with advanced technologies and seeks to bridge art, academia, technology, law, and policy.

Past AI projects include collaborations with artists Cécile B. Evans, James Bridle, Jenna Sutela, Ian Cheng, Pierre Huyghe, and Hito Steyerl.

Echoes of the Earth: Living Archive, which opened this week at Serpentine North, sees artist Refik Anadol collaborate with AI to play on human perception of legible and alien forms.

Anadol is known for his digital artworks and large-scale public installations that present generative visual environments borrowing from art historical images and existing sounds.

The artist explained his approach to Ocula Magazine. ‘We have a human and his legacy, and we have an AI that can learn from it. And then another human comes into the game and says, can I reinterpret his genius?’ he said.

The exhibition will continue through March coinciding with Future Art Ecosystems 4: Art x Public AI, a strategic briefing that breaks down the implications of AI for the cultural sector and offers strategies to claim greater agencies within AI-driven economies.

In October 2024, Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst will present a new project and exhibition that centres the creation of an artist-led AI system and introduces data collection as an art form.

The duo is renowned for their work in music, machine learning, and software development, and among the 100 most influential people in AI according to TIME magazine. Their first U.K. exhibition presents an immersive sonic experience of technological systems as art.

Echoes of the Earth: Living Archive is on view from 16 February to 7 April 2024. Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst’s work will be shown from October 2024 to January 2025.

Main image: Exhibition view: Refik Anadol, Echoes of the Earth: Living Archive, Serpentine North, London (16 February–7 April 2024). Courtesy Refik Anadol Studio and Serpentine. Photo: Hugo Glendinning.