AI Lab residency programme by Ars Electronica & Edinburgh Futures Institute

Anna Ridler (UK) and Caroline Sinders (US) win a residency in Edinburgh and Linz 

(Linz/Edinburgh, March, 2020) The “European ARTificial Intelligence Lab” – AI Lab for short – aims to enable artists to take residencies at scientific institutions and the Ars Electronica Futurelab. The AI Lab was initiated in 2018 by Ars Electronica. 12 renowned scientific institutions from all over Europe belong to the network, which is financed by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. Every year, a residency is offered to artists who work in the field of artificial intelligence or are dealing with its impact on our society.

This year the residency has been designed and developed by Ars Electronica and the Experiential AI research cluster at the Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) – part of the University of Edinburgh – in partnership with the Edinburgh International Festival. It was developed in order to support artists to explore AI systems. The residency theme is Entanglements – fair, moral and transparent AI.

In 2020, the residency will go to Anna Ridler and Caroline Sinders for their project “AI isn’t Artificial but Human”. The artists will spend several weeks with the Edinburgh Futures Institute and a month-long production residency at the Ars Electronica Futurelab in Linz.  Their work will be presented and discussed at the Ars Electronica Festival and the Edinburgh International Festival.

AI isn’t Artificial but Human

“AI isn’t Artificial but Human” is the title of the winning project by Anna Ridler and Caroline Sinders, which was selected by an expert jury from 161 entries from 42 countries. “Through artistic experiments, Anna Ridler and Caroline Sinders hope to make transparent the human influence on AI, so people can understand where they have agency, ” says Drew Hemmet, jury member (Edinburgh Futures Institute at the University of Edinburgh). The selection jury consisted of representatives from Ars Electronica, the Edinburgh Futures Institute and Edinburgh International Festival.

Anna Ridler

Anna Ridler is an artist and researcher. She has exhibited at institutions such as the V&A Museum, Ars Electronica, HeK Basel, Impakt and the Barbican Centre and has degrees from the Royal College of Art, Oxford University and University of Arts London. She was a 2018 EMAP fellow and was listed by Artnet as one of nine “pioneering artists” exploring AI’s creative potential. She is interested in working with collections of information, particularly self-generated data sets, to create new and unusual narratives in a variety of mediums, and what happens when things cannot fit into discrete categories. She is currently interested in the intersection of machine learning and nature and what we can learn from history.

Caroline Sinders    

Caroline Sinders is a machine learning researcher and artist obsessed with language, culture and images. Her work explores the intersections between natural language processing, artificial intelligence, abuse, online harassment, and politics in digital, conversational spaces. Her work has been featured in the Victoria and Albert Museum, MoMA Ps1, the Modern Art Museum of Bologna, Ars Electronica, as well as others. She is the founder of Convocation Design + Research an agency focusing on the use of machine learning and design for public good.

European ARTificial Intelligence Lab

The network, initiated by Ars Electronica in 2018, comprises 14 renowned institutions from the fields of art and science throughout Europe. The AI Lab is aimed at artists who work with AI applications and/or reflect on their use and effects on our society. The initiative is financed by the Creative Europe Program of the European Union.

Experiential AI

Experiential AI is a new research theme and cluster at Edinburgh Futures Institute. It aims to support the creation of artistic works using machine learning algorithms and robotics, and to inspire new concepts and paradigms on ethical and responsible AI. Experiential AI develops research on AI futures, science, art and ethics through collaborations with artists, festivals and the AI community.

Edinburgh International Festival

Edinburgh International Festival is the world’s leading performing arts festival, featuring the finest performers from the worlds of dance, opera, music and theatre for three weeks each August in Scotland’s capital. Created in 1947 to celebrate the human spirit and bring people together through art, the International Festival remains a global celebration and a point of annual cultural exchange, for an international audience exceeding 400,000 per year.

Committed to being inclusive and accessible, the International Festival offers free events, discounted pricing, accessible performances and year-round community learning and engagement programmes.

This year’s Edinburgh International Festival will take place across the city from 7-31 August 2020.

Anna Ridler: http://annaridler.com/

Caroline Sinders: https://carolinesinders.com/

European ARTificial Intelligence Lab: https://ars.electronica.art/ailab/de/

Ars Electronica: https://ars.electronica.art/

Edinburgh Futures Institute: https://efi.ed.ac.uk/

Edinburgh International Festival: https://www.eif.co.uk/