Tag: AI

Kristen Sanders at Asya Geisberg Gallery

At what point in human development did we become self-aware? This question absorbs Kristen Sanders in new paintings featuring mask-like faces in pre-historic natural environments at Asya Geisberg Gallery in Chelsea.  Interested both in the initial development of human consciousness and its current potential for manifestation via AI, Sanders visages look as if they’ve been peeled from contemporary mannequins and abandoned in ancient shell-strewn, rocky coastal scenes.  In this haunting image of a floating head titled ‘Middle Paleo,’ long lines across the face could reference the first deliberate marks made in sand by protohumans (a Sanders preoccupation), drips of a strange liquid or slash marks.  The ambiguity is provocative, highlighting the figure’s artificiality and strangeness and acknowledging the difficulty of reconciling such vastly distant eras of human development.  (On view in Chelsea through July 8th).

Kristen Sanders, Middle Paleo, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 40 inches, 2022.

Doug Aitken at 303 Gallery

In his latest multi-screen video installation, ‘Wilderness’ at 303 Gallery, renowned artist Doug Aitken asks, “How far we will continue to evolve, and at what cost?”   Aitken’s last major show in ‘18 at his Chelsea gallery featured communications expert and cell-phone pioneer Martin Cooper pondering how connected we actually need to be.  Here, the artist takes this train of thought further, shooting footage on the beach near his Venice home to suggest land’s end as a kind of metaphorical end to pre-digital life.  Beachgoers mouth phrases like ‘You sound so sweet and clear but you’re not really there,’ but the audio is from AI generated digital voices.  Alluring and alarming, Aitken’s scenes give pause for thought as we witness hands photographing the sunset becoming hands that hail the new.  (On view through May 27th).

Doug Aitken, Wilderness, installation view, eight-channel composited video, 2022.

Channing Hansen at Susan Inglett Gallery

‘60s performance art gets a radical update in LA-based artist Channing Hansen’s algorithm-derived hand-knit constructions at Susan Inglett Gallery.  Conceived of as instructions or ‘scores,’ each artwork in his latest solo show is a kind of event; the 2-D pieces are shaped by an algorithm trained to produce ‘Channing Hansen artworks,’ based on the characteristics of his previous work.  (On view in Chelsea through Oct 16th. Masks required).

Channing Hansen, Tangible Engine, California Variegated Mutant (Myth), California Variegated Mutant (Rhea), California Variegated Mutant (Sriracha), California Variegated Mutant (Talia), Jersey Wooly (Miss Maple), Romeldale (January), Romeldale (Qassiopeia), Romedale (Saffron), Romedale (Shelby), and Teeswater (F2019-0339) fibers; Tussah silk, and Mulberry silk; holographic polymers, and photo-luminescent recycled polyester fibers; Ingeo corn, and pineapple fibers; Sequoioideae Redwood, 50 x 45 in., 2020.

Trevor Paglen at Metro Pictures

Photographer Trevor Paglen’s past images of surveillance culture (NSA data centers, drone images) zeroed in on info and images gathered by the authorities. For his latest show at Metro Pictures, Paglen turns his attention to pictures analyzed via artificial intelligence. In this detail of a wall of photos, the artist Hito Steyerl posed for hundreds of portraits that were analyzed by facial-analysis algorithms, turning age, emotional state, gender and more into a set of numbers.  (On view in Chelsea through Oct 21st).

Trevor Paglen, Machine Readable Hito, adhesive wall material, 193 x 55 1/8 inches, 2017.

R. Luke DuBois at Bitforms Gallery

Using voter machines from the 40s, 50s and 60s, Luke DuBois presents gallery-goers with some more esoteric choices than the U.S. public faces in today’s election (us vs them, water vs fire, nature vs machine). Once visitors have locked in their votes, a unique video response interprets the data. (At Bitforms Gallery through Dec 23rd).

R. Luke DuBois, Learning Machine #2: Image, AVM voting machine (instruction model, blue, ca. 1955), voting booth, computer, camera, lights, screen, 11.75 x 13.5 x 13 inches, 2016.
R. Luke DuBois, Learning Machine #2: Image, AVM voting machine (instruction model, blue, ca. 1955), voting booth, computer, camera, lights, screen, 11.75 x 13.5 x 13 inches, 2016.