The In Conversations series brings together curators, artists, scholars, and audiences to critically dive into our broader contemporary cultural condition.
Rooted in the exhibitions and practices presented at the PHI Centre in Montreal, these conversations explore the art and artists whose voices are probing each of our individual roles in our collective social context.
Discover the conversations accompanying the PHI Centre's exhibitions.
This discussion, in conjunction with the exhibition Coded Dreams presented at the PHI Centre from October 9, 2024 to January 12, 2025, explores the possibilities, opportunities and challenges that could arise from the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in an artistic context. The artists behind the works Tulpamancer and The Golden Key first present their artistic approach and practice, before discussing with Sarah Mackenzie the ways in which AI is already shaping the art of tomorrow.
What new potential does AI have for reinventing art? How is this technology already transforming the global creative landscape? What might AI-generated art look like in 50 years' time? And should we be afraid of this technology that blurs the boundaries between human and machine?
Sarah Mackenzie (she/her) is a cultural strategist, documentary filmmaker, and a media arts curator based in Montreal, working at the forefront of art, technology, and society. She is currently the Director of the MUTEK Forum, where she oversees the programming of the annual symposium on art and technology for the festival. Over the past decade, she has spearheaded culture projects for creative studios, brands, and media companies, including the Red Bull Music Academy, CHANEL, Coach, Venice Biennale of Architecture, Asahi, CBC and many others. As an expert on culture, technology and digital art, Sarah is a regular speaker on these topics internationally, most recently at SXSW, AVA London, Future of Festivals Berlin, Art Basel, C2 Montreal and Water & Music’s Wavelength Summit.
Photo: Tess Roby
Marc Da Costa (he/him) is an artist and anthropologist whose work explores the relationship between emerging technology and lived experience. Da Costa’s artistic research and interactive installations examine how data and technical infrastructures focus our attention on the world in particular ways and, in so doing, shape the structures of experience available to us. Da Costa’s anthropological scholarship has explored these themes through studies of placemaking practices in the Anthropocene, with particular focus on Antarctic research expeditions and critical cartography. Da Costa’s work has been exhibited widely in the US and Europe and his writing on the intersection of data and society has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, VICE and elsewhere.
Photo: Lauren Duque
Matthew Niederhauser (he/him) is an artist and educator. His work pushes the limits of emerging AI and XR technologies within a wide range of mediums. He studied anthropology at Columbia University before earning his MFA in Art Practice from SVA while also a Pulitzer Center Grantee, Visiting Artist at the MIT Center for Art, Science, and Technology (CAST) and Member of NEW INC. At NEW INC he cofounded Sensorium, an experiential studio working at the forefront of immersive storytelling. When not focusing on projects that have premiered at the Venice Film Festival, Sundance New Frontier, Tribeca Film Festival, SXSW, and IDFA DocLab, he teaches at NYU Tisch and Tandon. Most recently, Matthew became the Technical Director at Onassis ONX in New York.
Photo: Matthew Niederhauser
Centre
An immersive exhibition that encourages you to explore the frontiers of artificial intelligence (AI) through two unique and captivating experiences
Past Event
Centre
In conjunction with the Coded Dreams exhibition, we invite you to a panel that delves into the new frontiers of artificial intelligence (AI) as an artistic medium
Centre
An immersive exhibition that encourages you to explore the frontiers of artificial intelligence (AI) through two unique and captivating experiences
Past Event
Centre
In conjunction with the Coded Dreams exhibition, we invite you to a panel that delves into the new frontiers of artificial intelligence (AI) as an artistic medium
Foundation
Gathering over forty recent works, DHC/ART’s inaugural exhibition by conceptual artist Marc Quinn is the largest ever mounted in North America and the artist’s first solo show in Canada
Foundation
Six artists present works that in some way critically re-stage films, media spectacles, popular culture and, in one case, private moments of daily life
Foundation
This poetic and often touching project speaks to us all about our relation to the loved one
Foundation
DHC/ART Foundation for Contemporary Art is pleased to present the North American premiere of Christian Marclay’s Replay, a major exhibition gathering works in video by the internationally acclaimed artist
Foundation
DHC/ART is pleased to present Particles of Reality, the first solo exhibition in Canada of the celebrated Israeli artist Michal Rovner, who divides her time between New York City and a farm in Israel
Foundation
The inaugural DHC Session exhibition, Living Time, brings together selected documentation of renowned Taiwanese-American performance artist Tehching Hsieh’s One Year Performances and the films of young Dutch artist, Guido van der Werve
Foundation
Eija-Liisa Ahtila’s film installations experiment with narrative storytelling, creating extraordinary tales out of ordinary human experiences
Foundation
For more than thirty years, Jenny Holzer’s work has paired text and installation to examine personal and social realities
