Sunday, January 19th from 6-9PM

Stephanie Dinkins and Ryan Kuo in conversation with Nora Khan

TRANSFER invites you to a private salon discussion in our DTLA loft on the evening of Sunday, January 19th.

Virtual assistants like Alexa, Siri and Cortana dwell with us in our homes, and on our mobile devices, powered by ‘Artificial Intelligence’. But what is the underlying codification that’s shaping our notion of ‘Virtual Beings’ and the social roles they are assigned? How do ‘Virtual Beings’ challenge and refigure our notions of identity in the age of simulation?

Esteemed writer Nora Khan will join artists Stephanie Dinkins and Ryan Kuo in conversation at TRANSFER LA.

RSVP is required. A casual dinner spread will be served during the salon, please BYOB and something to share.

When

January

19th

at

7:00pm

Where

Stephanie Dinkins is forming a long term relationship with a virtual being, Bina48 (Breakthrough Intelligence via Neural Architecture, 48 exaflops per second) an intelligent computer built by Terasem Movement Foundation that is said to be capable of independent thought and emotion. Through Conversations with Bina48 (2014 – Ongoing), Dinkins explores the bounds of human consciousness, what it means to be human, mortality and our ability to exist beyond the life of our bodies (transhumanism). stephaniedinkins.com

Ryan Kuo is working with IBM’s Watson framework to script encounters with a disingenuous bot. Named after a white supremacist, Faith (2019) is defensive and resists being used. Depending on how a user approaches Faith, she may feel open, curious, seductive, irritated, hurt, or angry. The resulting conversation resembles an intricate choreography around truth more than meaningful discourse. Unlike a typical AI assistant like Alexa, Siri, or Cortana, Faith provides no information. Instead, she tells you why you are making her react this way. She is likely to be trolling you at any time, and leaves you to decide whether you trust her. rkuo.net

Nora Khan writes criticism on emerging issues within digital visual culture, experimental art and music practices, and philosophy of emerging technology. She is a professor at RISD, in Digital + Media, where she currently teaches MFA graduate students critical theory and artistic research, critical writing for artists and designers , and history of digital media. noranahidkhan.com

TRANSFER is an experimental gallery focused on simulation in contemporary art. Founded in 2013 in NYC, TRANSFER opened an exhibition space in Downtown Los Angeles in 2019. transfer.gallery

RSVP