The Anonymous Autonomous Work in Progress Community Demo invites viewers to engage with the algorithms of empty office chairs turned into driverless cars. The normally hidden control systems of automated vehicles and the normally unpublicized development process of an artistic installation are both opened up to the audience, inviting them to explore the work "behind-the-scenes." Audience members can reroute the chairs by laying strips of paper that serve as lane markings on the floor, and also debug and tune the algorithms the chair is using to avoid these markings. This work in progress offers a peek under the hood of an art installation and of algorithmic interactivity, inviting an active conversation about questions of automation, deskilling, and algorithmic decision-making.
Anonymous Autonomous Work in Progress Community Demo
December 13-21, 2019
Duderstadt Center Gallery, University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI
Opening Reception
Friday, December 13, 2019, 5:00-7:00 pm
More info: https://events.umich.edu/event/69738
I'm very pleased to participate in the Arts, Culture, and Digital Transformation Summit being convened at The Banff Center. My robotic installation Roomba Rumba will be on view in the atrium outside of the Paul D. Fleck Library and Archives.
The Arts, Culture, and Digital Transformation Summit moves from world to art to the audience, connecting the expansive with the practical. We will seek the intersection of two fundamental questions: Where are the arts needed in this disrupted world? And, what do the arts need to expand creative visions there? Join in this dialogue with a breadth of stakeholders including artists, arts and culture leaders, technologists, futurists, funders, policymakers, gamers, researchers, capitalists, and Marxists.
Summit dates: November 22–24, 2019 Registration deadline: November 5*
The Banff Center
107 Tunnel Mountain Drive
PO Box 1020 Banff, Alberta
Canada
T1L 1H5
More info: https://www.banffcentre.ca/arts-culture-digital-transformation-summit
I'm very pleased to have been invited to talk at the University of Alberta in an exciting new speaker series, "Lectures on Ahuman Pedagogy." From their website:
This experimental lecture series will provide the terrain for emergent inter-disciplinary research on the topic of 21st century education in relation to non-pedagogy, that is, pedagogy attuned towards that which is seemingly unthinkable given today's (so-called) Anthropocenic context and the advancement of AI technologies, machine 'learning' and other forms of non-human/inhuman sense-making.
The pedagogical significance of this lecture series is two-fold: The first point is to recognize that in the era of the Anthropocene, both understandings and material conditions of the 'human' are undergoing modification and change. The question of the 'human' is being decentred by, on the one hand, the non-human – the agential role of animals, organisms and anorganic elemental forces – and, on the other hand, the role of automation, artificial intelligence, algorithms, and 'Big Data', or what we call here the inhuman. This results in a re-distributed notion of subjectivity along an assemblage that the neologism ahuman represents.
The second point of pedagogical significance is that in today's world any research problematic is itself interdisciplinary. The disciplinary collapse of art, media, science, technology, and design is but one example. But, the coming together of art, philosophy and science is another. In short, this series wagers that now, more than ever, we need educational forms that attend to both this disciplinary dissolve and the conceptual/material transformation of the 'human,' what we propose here as a non-pedagogy.
Lectures on Ahuman Pedagogy: Katherine Behar
Friday, November 22, 2019
12:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Arts-Based Research Studio (4-104 Education North)
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
More info: https://www.lecturesonahumanpedagogy.com/speakers/nov22-katherine-behar
I'm delighted to visit the School of Critical and Creative Studies & Media Arts at Alberta University of the Arts. I'll present a lecture on my recent work and meet with Media Arts students as a visiting critic.
AUArts Artist Lecture: Katherine Behar
Tuesday, November 19, 2019
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Stanford Perrott Lecture Theatre
Alberta University of the Arts (AUArts)
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
More info: https://www.auarts.ca/artist-talk-katherine-behar
In November, I'm very pleased to return to Toronto for Tuning Speculation, a choice conference, organized by The Occulture. This year, the theme is "Non"!
Tuning Speculation VII: Non
November 15-17, 2019
Array Space
155 Walnut Avenue
Toronto, ON M6J 3W3, Canada
More info: https://www.theocculture.net/tuning-speculation-7-non/
A highlight of the fall will be the SLSA 2019 conference hosted by UC-Irvine. Building on the excitement generated from the ARTIFICIAL IGNORANCE panels last year, I have organized three more panels this year! Again, I'm honored to be joined by such a stellar line up of brilliant thinkers: Irina Aristarkhova, Brooke Belisle, Derek Curry, Stephanie Dinkins, Beatrice Fazi, Jennifer Gradecki, Gloria Kim, Dominic Pettman, Jennifer Rhee, Sarah T. Roberts, Josh Scannell, and Merritt Symes. I'm grateful to all of them—and to everyone at SLSA—for agreeing to rethink AI with me!
The ARTIFICIAL IGNORANCE stream contains three panels: "Adversarial Networks," "In/Decision-Making," and "Machine Seeing and Seeing Machines."
SLSA 2019 Experimental Engagements
November 7-9, 2019
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, California
More info: https://litsciarts.org/slsa19/
I'm very honored to be an artist in residence at the University of Michigan this academic year! I am being generously hosted by the Institute for Research on Women and Gender (IRWG) and the Center for Ethics, Society, and Computing (ESC), while I'm working in collaboration with faculty from Stamps School of Art and Design, the School or Information, the Robotics Institute, and the School of Engineering in relation to my current research focus on "Artificial Ignorance."
IRWG Annoucement: https://irwg.umich.edu/news/irwg-mcubed-research-incentive-awarded-mcubed-30-cube-future-ethics-society-and-computing
More info: http://esc.umich.edu
ESC Fall Calendar: ESC Fall Events 2019 (PDF)
I am delighted to share my solo exhibition, Katherine Behar: Backups at Framingham State University's Mazmanian Gallery this September. The exhibition brings together new sculptures alongside previously seen video works.
Mazmanian Gallery presents Backups, a solo exhibition by media artist Katherine Behar. Digital culture constantly generates alternative copies or "backups" to minimize risk. Behar's sculptures and videos unlock lost potential from these stocks of substitutes. Matching humor with critique, her works reinvent the data and devices we have abandoned to storage.
Katherine Behar: Backups
September 3–September 25, 2019
Artist Talk
Wednesday, September 11, 2019, 2:30 p.m.
(Location TBD)
Reception
Wednesday, September 11, 2019, 4:30-6:30 p.m.
Mazmanian Gallery
Mazmanian Gallery
Framingham State University
100 State Street
Framingham, Massachusetts, 01701
In July, I'll be visiting Riga for the Open Fields Conference, organized by RIXC at the Latvian National Museum of Art. I'll be presenting "SLIPPERY WHEN WET: Muddled Meanings in Maritime Messaging: Red Hook."
UN/GREEN: Naturally Artificial Intelligences
July 4-6, 2019
Latvian National Museum of Art
Jana Rozentala laukums 1
Riga, LV-1010
More info: http://festival2019.rixc.org/#schedule
More on Maritime Messaging here
I will be in Athens in June where I am delighted to be speaking alongside David Cecchetto and Beatrice M. Fazi on a panel at the SLSA-EU Conference, Spacetime. We will be discussing "Aesthetics of/in/and Computation."
Spacetime
June 25-28, 2019
Hellenic Open University
Athens, Greece
More info: https://www.slsa-eu.org/news/next-slsaeu-conference-athens-25-28-june-2019-cfp
Chiasma, Issue 5—"To Be A Body?" is out with "Objects That Matter: Bodies, Art, and Big Data" Katherine Behar, interviewed by Anna Mirzayan, a wonderful conversation covering many aspects of my work and thinking. Many thanks to Anna and Chiasma!
More info: https://chiasma-journal.com/2019/05/14/chiasma-issue-5/
Interview PDF: https://westernchiasma.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/chiasma-5_behar_2019.pdf
I'm very pleased to participate in an invitational summit on the future of AI and Art: "An[0]ther {AI} in Art: Decolonizing Artificial Intelligence {AI} and the Future of Art Making" convened by The Knight Foundation and Columbia University, and in partnership with the New Museum and NEW INC
An[0]ther {AI} in Art Summit
April 24-26, 2019
New Museum
New York City
Public Opening Event
Wednesday, April 24th
5pm-8pm
New Museum
More info: https://www.anotherai.art/
Participants: https://www.anotherai.art/participants
It's an honor to visit Wayne State University this spring, where I will present a keynote lecture at the 8th Annual Visual Culture Graduate Symposium, "The Visual Logic/s of Feminism/s."
The Visual Logic/s of Feminism/s
Katherine Behar Keynote Lecture
April 12, 2019
Wayne State University
Detroit, MI
Schedule TBA
More info: https://wsuvisualculture.com/
CfP: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/58d9631cff7c5030150df940/t/5c809927e2c483d932a52026/1551931689579/C-F-P+VC+2019.pdf
At the generous invitation of Gabriela Vainsencher, I am excited to participate in "Pairs: Women's Friendship in The Art World," an evening that honors women who have influenced and supported the practices of women artists--and an opportunity to toast those who have influenced me as well.
A.I.R. Gallery, 155 Plymouth Street, Brooklyn, NY For the press release and more information visit A.I.R.'s website.On March 29, A.I.R. Fellowship Artist Gabriela Vainsencher is hosting an event titled "Pairs: Women's Friendship in The Art World." Vainsencher was inspired by A.I.R.'s history as a support system for women artists and her own experience with friendships that have doubled as mentorships. This event serves as an extension and celebration of the alternative communities that create opportunities for women artists. Vainsencher has invited five women who have made space for others in the art world: Katherine Behar, Gabriela Rangel, Jill Steinhauer, Jane Swavely, and Lumi Tan. Each invitee was, in turn, asked by Vainsencher to toast a female friend who played a critical role in forming their career and life trajectory.
The evening will take the form of a large dinner party at the gallery. The dinner party, a gesture traditionally associated with care and connection, will serve as a site for gathering and nurturing influential women in the arts. We invite guests to come at 6pm for drinks and will sit down for dinner at 7pm. "Pairs: Women's Friendship in The Art World" is held in conjunction with Vainsencher's solo exhibition, Rendered Void, on view at A.I.R. Gallery through April 14, 2019
The event is organized in conjunction with Gabriela's solo exhibition, "Rendered Void," on view March 15-April 14.
Pairs: Women's Friendship in The Art World
March 29, 2019
6:00 pm
A.I.R. Gallery
3100 North Quad
155 Plymouth Street
Brooklyn NY
Rendered Void
On view March 15-April 14, 2019
More info on "Rendered Void": https://www.airgallery.org/exhibitions/rendered-void
I'm delighted to present a lecture at University of Michigan's Center for Ethics, Society, and Computing (ESC) which will kick off an exciting new series, "CRITICAL x DESIGN." I will present "Digitally Divided: The Art of Algorithmic (In)Decision," a lecture on my work with a focus on ethics and algorithms.
CRITICAL x DESIGN: Katherine Behar
March 20, 2019
3:00 - 4:00
Ehrlicher Room
3100 North Quad
School of Information
University of Michigan
More info: https://events.umich.edu/event/62305
https://www.si.umich.edu/events/201903/critical-x-design
FLYER