Beyond the algorithm

The exhibition Apophenia, Interruptions: Artists and Artificial Intelligence at Work runs from September 25th, 2024, to January 6th, 2025, at the Centre Pompidou, exploring the intersection of artistic creation and AI. This project marks the second phase of a collaboration with KADIST, a non-profit contemporary art organization that champions art as a catalyst for social change. Featuring six new commissions and recent works, the exhibition includes installations by Éric Baudelaire, Mat Dryhurst and Holly Herndon, Auriea Harvey, Ho Rui An, Interspecifics, and Agnieszka Kurant. The show focuses on the complex role of human intelligence in shaping AI-generated outputs, emphasizing the ways in which artists intervene to modify AI systems, reflecting on their societal impact.

The works presented explore themes ranging from collective memory in national archives to speculative forecasts of future artistic production. Through these pieces, the artists interrogate the power and potential of AI, as well as its limitations. One installation considers apophenia, the human tendency to perceive patterns between unrelated things, drawing a parallel with the errors in AI object detection processes, such as the generation of hallucinations or misinterpretations by neural networks.

By utilizing the capabilities of generative AI, these artists examine how technology generates images and texts from massive datasets, while also highlighting the biases and inaccuracies present in such processes. Despite the challenges AI presents, it is already integrated into daily life, prompting these artists to critically engage with its effects on society. The exhibition encourages viewers to consider not only the technological implications but also the profound ways in which AI is beginning to transform human interactions and creativity.

Mat Dryhurst and Holly Herndon have shared their insights in an exclusive interview for our upcoming issue—pre-order your copy today.