Cybernetic Creativity and the Future of Art: Guy Ben-Ary in conversation with Lanfranco Aceti

Session chair: Dr Darren Moore, Senior Lecturer, School of Contemporary Music
Session speakers: Guy Ben-Ary, Digital Artist in Residence and Dr Lanfranco Aceti, Director, Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore

Cybernetic Creativity and the Future of Art explores the integration of art, science, engineering, technology and artificial and in-vitro intelligence in the creation of art.

The seminar will delve into the concept of cybernetic creativity, where artists can harness the power of emergent technologies to create new forms of expression and autonomous artistic entities that may have the potential to be creative. The discussions will focus on these new technologies' artistic, cultural, ethical and philosophical implications. 

LASALLE Digital Artist in Residence Guy Ben-Ary will be conversing with Dr Lanfranco Aceti to discuss cybernetic creativity and the future of art in the context of their own artistic and curatorial practices. Ben-Ary and Aceti will share their perspectives and insights on the intersection of science, technology and art and discuss the opportunities and challenges that arise from these convergences.

About the speakers

Guy Ben-Ary is a Perth-based artist and researcher. He currently works at SymbioticA, an artistic laboratory dedicated to the research, learning and hands-on engagement with the life sciences, which is located within the University of Western Australia.  Recognised internationally as a major artist and innovator working across science and media arts, Guy specialises in biotechnological artwork, which aims to enrich our understanding of what it means to be alive.

Guy’s work has been shown across the globe at prestigious venues and festivals from the Beijing National Art Museum to San Paulo Biennale to the Moscow Biennale. His work can also be seen in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. His works cellF and Silent Barrage were awarded an Honorary Mention in Prix Ars Electronica (2017, 2009) and Silent Barrage also won first prize at VIDA, a significant international competition for Art and Artificial Life.

Guy’s Main research areas are cybernetics, soft-robotics and the cultural articulation of Bio-technologies. Much of Ben-Ary’s work is inspired by science and nature. His artworks usually utilize motion, growth and big data to investigate technological aspects of today’s culture and the re-use of biological materials and technologies. https://guybenary.com/

Dr Lanfranco Aceti has a PhD in Fine Art, New Media & Film from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, UAL, London, UK, with experience as an academic, curator, and artist, He has extensive experience as director of international institutions in the interdisciplinary field of curating, contemporary art and media cultures (with over 20 years as gallery director, head of department, editor in chief, and lead researcher) and a vast network ranging from Europe and the United States of America to Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, the Far East and Australia. 

His areas of expertise are artistic practice and curatorial practice as well as contemporary art history, twenty-first century art history, visual culture, and curatorial studies. Lanfranco has worked on the internationalisation of contemporary art/academia in creating collaborative research endeavours that bring together a range of international scholars, curators, artists, students, and stakeholders interested in developing global and visible interdisciplinary projects in partnership with relevant enterprises. 

Amongst Lanfranco's more internationally acclaimed curatorial projects was One Step Forward, Two Steps Back, a durational performance realised on the White House sidewalk in collaboration with the Cooper Gallery of African and African American Art (Harvard University). As an artist, in 2021 and 2022, Lanfranco created Preferring Sinking to Surrender, a ten part international art project stretching over three years for the Venice Architecture Biennale, featuring installations, performances in the Square of the Campidoglio in Rome with the support of the city of Rome and the Museo delle Periferie, and a sculptural installation depicting 'a vegetable garden' in a suburban area in Italy.