Artists Conversation with Jim Bizzocchi and Ben Bogart
Surrey Art Gallery presents an artists conversation with exhibiting artists Jim Bizzocchi and Ben Bogart on Saturday, June 2 from 2:30 to 4pm at Surrey Art Gallery. Free admission. The influence of computer algorithms on economics, politics, and communications is increasingly common. With it comes a host of challenging ethical questions, as experienced with the recent Facebook data breach, around the value of human decision-making versus machines and artificial intelligence.
Artists also use computer algorithms and artificial intelligence. Surrey Art Gallery’s TechLab digital media art program has featured many artworks made by computer algorithms over the past the past two decades. “Artists’ increasing use of computational algorithms to create artwork is dramatically changing the way we think about imagination, creativity and artistic expression,” says Surrey Art Gallery Curator of Exhibitions and Collections Jordan Strom.
Currently on exhibit are Jim Bizzocchi: Ambient Landscapes and Ben Bogart: Watching and Dreaming. Both are three-channel videos that reject narrative. Jim Bizzocchi’s scenic imagery accompanied by a generative soundtrack aims to relax viewers and reward their attention with pictures that blend smoothly into the next and are different each playthrough. Ben Bogart’s sci-fi inspired video installation shows what a computer sees when it goes to the movies, breaking apart and reconstructing the films 2001: A Space Odyssey, Blade Runner, and TRON to create an entirely new cinematic experience.
This artists conversation addresses overlapping themes in Bizzocchi’s and Bogart’s art: the often blurry relationship between art and science; how algorithm art (computer-based generative art) creates imagery that artists have been unable to create on their own; the ways algorithms are changing the nature of cinema and art-viewing today; and the potential lessons art can teach us about artificial intelligence and what it means to be human.
About Jim Bizzocchi
Jim Bizzocchi is an Associate Professor in the School of Interactive Arts and Technology at Simon Fraser University. His research interests include the emerging aesthetics of the digital video experience, the design of generative media art, and the design of interactive narrative. Bizzocchi is a practicing video artist, producing original video and generative video artworks that complement his scholarly writing. Visit his website at ambientvideo.org
About Ben Bogart
Ben Bogart is a Vancouver-based interdisciplinary artist working with generative computational processes including physical modelling, chaos, feedback systems, evolutionary computation, computer vision, and machine learning. His work has been inspired by the natural sciences, such as quantum physics and cognitive neuroscience. Bogart has produced processes, artifacts, texts, images, and performances that have been presented at galleries, art festivals, and academic conferences around the world. He has been an artist-in-residence at the Banff Centre (Canada), the New Forms Festival (Canada), and at Videotage (Hong Kong). Ben holds both master’s and doctorate degrees from the School of Interactive Arts and Technology at Simon Fraser University. Visit his website at ekran.org
About Surrey Art Gallery
Internationally recognized for its award-winning programs, Surrey Art Gallery is the second largest public art museum in Metro Vancouver. Founded in 1975, the Gallery presents contemporary art by local, national, and international artists, including digital and audio art. Its extensive public programs for children through to adults aim to engage the public in an ongoing conversation about issues and ideas that affect our communities and to provide opportunities to interact with artists and the artistic process. Admission is free.
Surrey Art Gallery gratefully acknowledges the financial assistance of the City of Surrey, Province of BC through BC Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, and the Surrey Art Gallery Association. Surrey Art Gallery is located at 13750-88 Avenue, Surrey, BC, Canada. 604-501-5566 | surrey.ca/artgallery
HOURS: Tues-Thur 9am-9pm | Fri 9am-5pm | Sat 10am-5pm | Sun 12-5pm | Closed Mondays and holidays.
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