The Algorithmic State and other special events

The MA Curatorial Practice program at the School of Visual Arts is pleased to present the next events in our series of talks, The Algorithmic State, concerning artificial intelligence and its ramifications. Contrary to early utopian claims for the liberating potential of open-source AI, corporate AIs have already proven to exact a dramatic cost socially, politically, and ecologically. How can we salvage this early promise of AI, while living with its exponential infiltration of every aspect of daily life? As well, with the recent explosion of visual and textual production through generative AI, what does this mean for the future of art, the writing of its history, and how it may be curated in the years ahead? Organized by Noam Segal and Steven Henry Madoff.

Digital Repair with Kader Attia: April 3, 12–1pm EST
Natural, human, and digital forms of repair are all based on a recursive process of feedback and correction. Yet unlike human repair, which typically has an ethical dimension as well as a physical one, the refinement and repair of AI  for corporate purposes is most often driven by the astronomical and divisive accumulation of capital, regardless of social impact. Kader Attia’s notion of repair, both in terms of physical objects and societies, helps us to reconsider damage, dysfunction, and trauma in relation to the ways AIs are being deployed. Attia is an award-winning artist, recognized, for example, with the Marcel Duchamp Prize, and a cultural practitioner. In 2016, he founded La Colonie, a discursive space in Paris. He was the artistic director of the 2022 Berlin Biennial, Still Present. Register for the event here.

Artificial Aesthetics with Lev Manovich: April 27, 12–1pm EST 
Writing about the new AI image-making tools such as DALL-E 2, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion, the Financial Times called this “a pivotal moment in the history of art.” The founder of Midjourney recently stated that the next three years will see more aesthetic innovation than the previous two hundred. Lev Manovich, Presidential Professor at the Graduate Center, New York, and a director of its Cultural Analytics Lab, will discuss AI media transformation, drawing on the theoretical analysis being developed in his new book Artificial Aesthetics: Critical Guide to AI, Media, and Design, as well as his experience as an artist working with computers since 1984. How should generative AI be understood in relation to previous media transformations? Can we expect any more aesthetic innovation after a century of modernism (1870–1970) and three decades of digital media (1990–ongoing)? How can artificial intelligence be used to rethink art histories and curatorial practices? Register for the event here.

Also in the weeks ahead, join us for the Curatorial Roundtable, weekly presentations on transformative exhibition practices of distinguished curators from around the world. Organized by Steven Henry Madoff.

Bernardo José de Souza: March 15, 9–10am EST
Independent curator based in Madrid and Rio de Janeiro. Register here.

Marina Reyes Franco: March 22, 5–6pm EST
Curator at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico (MAC). Register here.

Farid Rakun: March 29, 9–10am EST
Member of the artists collective ruangrupa, with whom he co-curated documenta 15 (2022) in Kassel. Register here.

Paz Guevara: April 5, 9–10am EST
Curator, researcher, and author, working at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin. Register here.

Reem Shadid: April 19, 9–10am EST
Director of the Beirut Art Center. Register here.

Inga Lāce: April 26, 9–10am EST
Currently the CMAP Central and Eastern Europe Fellow at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Register here.

Applications for admission to the MA Curatorial Practice program for fall 2023 are now open! The review of applications and considerations for scholarships on a competitive basis is now ongoing. Visit the MA Curatorial Practice website here to learn more about the program or link directly to the application here.