Cloning Pigeons, Antler Replicator

Full description

Background This research consisting of a group of 20 related paintings considers current scientific and artistic debate around the impact of rapid technological acceleration, and speculatively examines how advances in artificial intelligence, robotics and biotechnology may impact our place in the world. In evaluating potential collective cultural anxiety about technological disruption, I considered ‘Pataphysics’ the science of imaginary solutions invented by proto-surrealist writer Alfred Jarry. The research asks, ‘how can the use of paradox and humour be deployed to illuminate complex issues relating to the role, implementation and impact of artificial Intelligence in society ‘.
Contribution Developed during and further contextualised by the global crisis of COVID-19 pandemic, my paintings such as Cloning Pigeons and Antler Replicator, employed expressionist gestures and intimate hand-made marks; suggesting a potential future in which the boundary between humans, animals and machines may be increasingly blurred. I found that the imaginative collective narratives discovered though working spontaneously and in series, suggested new possibilities for large scale composite works for future experimentation.
Significance My work was selected for the exhibition Future U at the RMIT Gallery and curated by Evelyn Tsitas & Associate Professor Jonathan Duckworth and was supported by
the Goethe-Institute Australia as part of Kulturtechniken 4.0 which features artists and experts working across the field of artificial intelligence (AI). The exhibition was reviewed in several publications. Invited artists included Patricia Piccinini and Stelarc. The exhibition was supported by a catalogue, pod casts and radio interviews.