Exhibition on view:
September 7 – December 9, 2023
Monday – Saturday
11:00 am – 6:00 pm

Curated By:
Mashinka Firunts Hakopian and Meldia Yesayan

Location:
Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice
320 E 43rd Street
New York, NY

What Models Make Worlds: Critical Imaginaries of AI is at the Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice, NYC

What Models Make Worlds: Critical Imaginaries of AI is a group exhibition which highlights the biases of AI and algorithms — while artificial intelligence shapes our contemporary algorithmic realities, these algorithms reproduce and reflect the biases of the humans who code them.

Featuring femme-identifying, BIPOC, and queer artists, the exhibition invites the visitors to imagine alternative futures via algorithmic models that are based on diverse and inclusive data sets.

The exhibition’s title draws inspiration from the texts of the feminist techno-science scholar Donna Haraway: “It matters what stories make worlds, what worlds make stories.” It’s an invitation to reimagine current and future technologies and open up possibilities, through innovative art.

The collection is powerful and thought-provoking as it utilizes academic research as a foundation. By drawing from scholarly studies, these artists infuse their work with a deep well of knowledge and expertise, ensuring that their art resonates with intellectual rigor.

“Artificial intelligence structures the socio-technical terrain of our present, and the human agents who train it shape the political imaginaries of what is yet to come.”

— Mashinka Firunts Hakopian

Complex themes and concepts are handled with accuracy and depth, and presented with arresting artistic expression — this exhibition comes to the fore with its enhanced credibility and impact thanks to the meticulous academic research that supports authentic art.

Audiences at the Ford Foundation Gallery engage in meaningful dialogues with artwork that challenges preconceptions and sparks critical thinking. By amalgamating art and academia, What Models Make Worlds: Critical Imaginaries of AI not only elevates the artistic discourse but also contributes to a more enlightened and informed society.

What Models Make Worlds is curated by Mashinka Firunts Hakopian and Meldia Yesayan, and was originally presented at Occidental College’s public art space and cultural platform called OXY ARTS in 2021. The exhibition features the work of Algorithmic Justice League, Morehshin Allahyari, Andrew Demirjian and Dahlia Elsayed, Stephanie Dinkins, Aroussiak Gabrielian, Maya Indira Ganesh with Design Beku, Kite, Lauren Lee McCarthy, Mimi Ọnụọha, Niama Safia Sandy, Caroline Sinders, Astria Suparak, Mandy Harris Williams, and Kira Xonorika.

“From predictive policing to judicial risk assessment to border surveillance to automated hiring, the encoded biases of AI systems magnify existing structural inequities. While algorithmic worldmaking often unfolds in a ‘black box’––an opaque space of automated decision-making whose rationale is hidden from public view–– the artists featured in this exhibition are opening up the black box for scrutiny to imagine possibilities for feminist, antiracist, and decolonial AI.”

— Mashinka Firunts Hakopian

The exhibition explores histories of technological erasure and presents works that intervene in those histories — showing what has been prioritized in data collection processes, what has been made invisible, what eludes quantification, and what has been hidden.

About the curators:

Meldia Yesayan is the director of OXY ARTS, the multidisciplinary arts programming initiative at Occidental College. She oversees all aspects of its programming and development, including organizing all exhibitions and programs, facilitating visiting artist residencies such as the Wanlass artist-in-residence program, initiating cross-departmental and interdisciplinary collaborations, and engaging the Occidental community in socially conscious discourse with contemporary arts practices. She is also responsible for developing meaningful and sustained relationships with the Los Angeles area arts communities, including partnerships with local arts agencies, artists, and institutions.

Mashinka Firunts Hakopian is an Armenian writer, artist, and researcher residing in Glendale, CA. She is an associate professor in technology and social justice at ArtCenter College of Design and was formerly a visiting Mellon professor of the practice at Occidental College. Her book, The Institute for Other Intelligences, was released by X Artists’ Books in December 2022 as the first in its X topics series and edited by Ana Iwataki and Anuradha Vikram. She is the guest co-editor of the spring 2023 issue of Art Papers on artificial intelligence, co-edited with Sarah Higgins. She holds a PhD in history of art from the University of Pennsylvania.

About OXY ARTS:

OXY ARTS is Occidental College’s public art center. Rooted in social justice and community engagement, it is a vital public space for discovery, engagement, and learning at the intersection of art, culture, and social movements. OXY ARTS is located in the heart of the Highland Park neighborhood in northeast Los Angeles and is committed to facilitating projects that hold space for complex ideas and dialogue, spark curiosity, and invest in artists and community growth.

About the Ford Foundation Gallery:

Opened in March 2019 at the Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice in New York City, the Ford Foundation Gallery spotlights artwork that wrestles with difficult questions, calls out injustice, and points the way toward a fair and just future. The gallery functions as a responsive and adaptive space and one that serves the public in its openness to experimentation, contemplation, and conversation. Located near the United Nations, it draws visitors from around the world, addresses questions that cross borders, and speaks to the universal struggle for human dignity.

Visit the exhibition, What Models Make Worlds: Critical Imaginaries of AI, through December 9th at the Ford Foundation Gallery in NYC and let us know your thoughts!