As part of our module +Focus Artificial Intelligence – Creative Practices and Critical Perspectives 2024, Winnie was invited to give us an artist talk. Winnie has been working and thinking about art, coding and machine learning for a long time. For this talk Winnie will join us online to give us some insights into her work.
Join the Talk
September 5. 2024 | 17:00 CET
Talk
Doing Critical Technical Art Practice
This talk delves into how Machine Learning (ML) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) can be explored as modes of inquiry through the lens of critical technical art practice. Moving beyond their predictive functions, I employ these technologies in my artistic work to raise new questions and possibilities for understanding and reimagining our relationship with artificial intelligence.
By engaging with data(sets), code and algorithms, I investigate the intersection between coding and thinking. Inspired by scholars such as Wendy Hui Kyong Chun and Philip Agre, I emphasise «doing thinking»—a process where technical skills and critical inquiry converge for practice-based research.
Bio
Winnie Soon is a Hong Kong-born artist coder and researcher interested in the cultural implications of digital infrastructure that addresses wider power asymmetries with a particular interest in computational publishing, code and software. Their artistic and scholarly works engage with themes such as Free and Open Source Culture, Coding Otherwise, artistic/technical manuals, digital censorship and minor technology. With works appearing in museums, galleries, festivals, distributed networks, papers and alternative written forms, including co-authored books titled Boundary Images (2023), Fix My Code (2021), and Aesthetic Programming (2020), Winnie is the co-editor of the Software Studies Book Series (MIT Press).
Artistically, Winnie has been honored with several prestigious awards, including the Golden Nica at Ars Electronica (Artificial Intelligence and Life Art Category), the Expanded Media Award for Network Culture at Stuttgarter Filmwinter, the WRO 2019 Media Art Biennale Award, and the 26th and 17th ifva awards (Special Mention and Silver Award). Currently, Winnie is an Associate Professor of Art and Technology at UCL’s Slade School of Fine Art.
