For several years now the Serpentine in London has focused on the relationship between art, technology and society, with digital commissions, meetings and much more. The Gallery’s guests have been visionary artists, such as Hito Steyerl, James Bridle and Ian Cheng.
In collaboration with Rival Strategy and King’s College, the Serpentine now launches Future Art Ecosystems, a visionary project that investigates how artists and organisations are being shaped by future technologies. It also provides, in collaboration with King’s College, a creative laboratory for experiments with Artificial Intelligence.
The 2020 report of the inaugural briefing dedicated to the practices being developed by artists working with technology and the infrastructures built around these can be downloaded from futureartecosystems.org. The report is structured in a series of chapters and areas that can be consulted separately and in different order, all connected with art as an ecosystem or, rather, as Ben Vickers says, “as a series of ecosystems, incorporating artists, cultural institutions, funders, collectors and many others.” After introducing the approach adopted by artists who use technology as a creative material, the types of infrastructures that host these practices are discussed; they do not necessarily belong to the art system, as much as artists are involved in them. The third part explores how all this can be integrated into broader strategies, configured in the infrastructural plays of other emerging ecosystems.
At this time, following the health emergency, many initiatives have been launched online, among these virtual exhibitions and online events. The Serpentine’s programme is rooted in research which started many years ago and is especially interested in projects that, through an aesthetic use of technology, investigate the social impact of technology and its potential future impact.
Future Art Ecosystems on Art and Advanced Technologies is produced by Ben Vickers, Victoria Ivanova, and Sophie Netchaef, in collaboration with Rival Strategies, and the Creative Lab in partnership with King’s College.
You can download the first report at futureartecosystems.org where you can also subscribe to the newsletter to be posted on future events.
