AI and Tech in the Hands of Artists
Symposium & Public Art Exhibition
Santa Barbara, CA October 7, 8 & 9th
PROGRAMMING: TUESDAY 10/08
Tues
10/07
2:00-3:00pm
and
7:00- 9:00pm
Visual Art and Design
Academy, (SBHS)
Tues10/07
3:30 -4:30pm
Historic Masonic Temple
4:00-6:00pm
Patio, Museum of
Contemporary Art SB
Art of Intelligence: Intelligence of Art
Seeing Is Believing: Art, AI, and the Crisis of Visual Truth
Director Daniel Barnett in conversation with Nathan Vonk, Scott Anderson and Fabian Offert
> In a time when images can be generated faster than they can be verified, the authority of the visual is under pressure—and the role of artists, curators, and critics is more vital than ever. This panel brings together visual theorist Daniel Barnett, artist Scott Anderson, curator and gallerist Nathan Vonk, and digital humanities scholar Fabian Offert for a probing conversation on the collapse of visual certainty in the age of artificial intelligence. Together, they will explore how AI-generated imagery challenges foundational concepts in art and philosophy—from authorship and authenticity to beauty, memory, and perception. In a world where anything can be faked and the real is constantly contested, what does it mean to look, to trust, or to believe? And how are artists using these same tools to provoke, clarify, and rebuild our shared visual language?
Participants
Moderator: Daniel Barnett, Director VADA
Scott Anderson, Artist, Associate Professor, Art, Westomnt College
Fabian Offert, Assoc Professor, Center for Responsible Machine Learning (UCSB)
Nathan Vonk, Owner Sullivan Goss
7:00pm
Private Residence
“The Human Element: Designing Empathy into the Machine Age”
How do we ensure that the future of artificial intelligence remains rooted in human values, emotion, and connection? In this cross-disciplinary conversation, Kevin Davis, head of Amazon’s Alexa AI project in Santa Barbara, and Forest Stearns, artist-in-residence at Google’s Quantum AI Lab in Goleta, explore the quiet power of design, voice, and visual culture in shaping how we live with intelligent systems. While Davis works at the cutting edge of conversational AI, Stearns brings warmth and humanity into stark research environments through mural-scale art and collaboration. Together, they ask: What does it mean to make machines—and the spaces around them—feel more human?
Participants
Kevin Davis, Amazon Alexa AI
Forest Stearns, Artist In Residence, Google Quantum Lab
Welcoming Reception; AR Installation by Nancy Baker Cahill
Sponsored By Kunin Winery
> Join the artists, speakers and fellow attendees for beverages while experiencing Baker Cahill’s special AR piece.> MCASB’s companion exhibition featuring DJ Xavier will also be open.<
Private Dinner Reception
Invitation only: Artists, Speakers, Curators, Donors, Sponsors, and VIP ticket holders
PROGRAMMING: WEDNESDAY, 10/08
WED
10/08
Historic Masonic Temple
1:00-5:30pm
2:30-3:30pm
“Signals & Systems: Artists Rewiring Perception in the Age of Intelligent Media”
Nancy Baker Cahill in conversation with Beatie Wolfe and Alan Macy
> This multimedia panel brings together four pioneering artist-speakers—Alan Macy, Victoria Vesna, Nancy Baker Cahill, and Beatie Wolfe—for a dynamic conversation about the new architectures of perception, connection, and meaning in our digitally entangled world. Through video, still imagery, and conversation,these artists will present their own deeply distinctive works that explore themes of embodiment, ecology, technology, and consciousness. They will also engage in dialogue around works by fellow Brave New Work artists Yuge Zhou, Richelle Ellis Gribble, and the SuperCollider collective, highlighting how this new generation of interdisciplinary practices collapses boundaries between science and art, virtual and real, data and sensation. Whether through biometric sensing, immersive environments, networked ecosystems, or poetic data visualizations, each artist brings a lens on how creative technology can shape more intuitive, interconnected,
Lunch Break
11:30am-1:00pm
Area Restaurants
12:30 - 5:30pm
Breakout Opportunities
Shuttle Between Venues / Walking Routes
> SB MTD routes are complimentary for all ticket holders. < No host shuttle cars are also available along a set route.< > Walking: Several of the venues are within a three quarter mile radius of each other in the downtown area. < > Shuttle service begins at Noon.<
Symbiosis or Schism? The AI - Human Odyssey
Companion Exhibition Curated by the Brill Family Foundation
> Over 20 artists address a theme of the opportunity and threats posed by AI in wide ranging approaches. <
2:30-3:30pm
VADA (SBHS)
Every 20min (viewing limited to 12 guests per experience)
The Alloshpere
USCB MAT Campus
3:00-4:00pm
McCune Conference Room (6020 HSSB) at the Humanities & Social Sciences Building.
UCSB Campus
6:30-7:30pm
Santa Barbara Musem of Art Auditorium
Sunset - 9:00pm
Faulkner Library Plaza
Artists’ Presentation
Isabel Beavers and ____
> Supercollider.LA founding members Beavers and _________ will present their fascinating work at the intersection of art and science. <
2:30 - 4:30pm
Artist Performance/ The Allosphere
Joann Kuchera Morin: Quantum Concerto
> JKM performs portions of her groundbreaking concerto in which she uses quantum mechanics in the way that a composer writes a classic work for a traditional orchestra. < As a pioneer in musically and visual immersive experiences, now most recognized in the technologies employed at the Sphere in Las Vegas, Kuchera-Morin is the godmother of these artistic and scientific capabilities.<
A Critique by Women of Color
Ana Briz in conversation with Haewon Jeong and Kira Xonorika
> Curator of the Art, Design .and Architecture Museum, Ana Briz explores inherent bias in AI algorythms with Juong, Associate Professor, UCSB school of Electrical and Computer engineering and Director of the Center for Technological Information and Society who researches theoretically grounded tools for trustworthy and reliable machine learning systems; and Indigenous, transgender artist Kiro Xonorika<
A Brief History of the Impossible
Chief Curator of the Santa Barbara Museum, James Glisson
> Glisson explores how historical artists anticipated AI in a fascinating look at art history through the lens of contemporary technologies. <
Projected Art Work
Art Works by Nancy Baker Cahill, Richelle Ellis/ SuperColider.la, Victoria Vesna, Beatie Wolfe and Yuge Zhou
> The Faulkner Library Plaza comes alive with stunning art works, produced with sophisticated technologies which focus on environmental, societal and humanist themes in inspiring ways. <
THU 10/09
Quantum Speaks the Language of Nature
Forest Stearns, Google Quantum Lab Artist in residence in conversation with Erik Lucero, Director Google Quantum Labs and _________
10:00-11:00am
> The Artist, Scientist and Architect discuss an exciting future vision of collaboration between art and science that is mutually inspirational, collaborative and drives positive change in the world for all humans.<