The 2024 International Techno Art Exhibition has brought together 12 artists to explore the liberation of human consciousness via digital technology, and is underway through March 2, 2025, at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts in the central city of Taichung.
During the Nov. 30 opening ceremony Deputy Culture Minister Lee Ching-hwi said an increasing number of artists are intrigued by the rapid development of artificial intelligence and have begun to take inspiration from the technology and incorporate it into their works. Some are intrigued by the question of whether AI has a soul, she said, adding that such reflective thinking is key to artistic creation.
This exhibition, “Right Where It Belongs,” provides a venue for the public to engage with AI and the future that it promises, Lee continued, adding that it is also important that as people move toward the future, they attend to the reminders from the artists' creations to not leave the past behind.
According to the organizer, the exhibition is inspired by technium, an idea proposed by Kevin Kelly, the founding executive editor of Wired magazine. This cutting-edge concept and hypothesis is concerned with the integration of the artificial and natural worlds from a technical perspective, and regards technology as an evolving extension of the human mind.
“Exploration and Exploitation” by New Taipei City-based Simple Noodle Art is one of the works on display. It features an interactive system that uses AI technology to modify its output based on the audience’s visual responses to the video being displayed, and asks whether AI exacerbates social divisions when faced with the dilemma of exploring or exploiting humans.
The event also includes side events such as two workshops, a forum, an artistic talk and guided tours of the museum, the organizers said. (SFC-E)
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