VANCOUVER, BC.- The Imitation Game: Visual Culture in the Age of Artificial Intelligence surveys the extraordinary uses (and abuses) of artificial intelligence (AI) in the production of modern and contemporary visual culture around the world. This dynamic exhibition examines the development of artificial intelligence, from the 1950s to the present, through a historical lens. Building on this foundation, it emphasizes the explosive growth of AI across disciplines, including animation, architecture, art, fashion, graphic design, urban design, and video games, over the past decade.

Featured artists, designers and architects include *airegan, Stafford Beer, BIG, Ben Bogart, Gui Bonsiepe, Sougwen Chung, Muriel Cooper, DeepDream, Stephanie Dinkins, Scott Eaton, Epic Games, Amber Frid-Jimenez, Neri Oxman and Patrick Pennefather, and WETA, among others.

“This exhibition is timely and compelling. The breadth of creative practices explored is core to our mandate and vision. The implications of this research are wide-ranging and breathtaking. The experience will be unparalleled and unforgettable. We look forward to welcoming the public to this deeply researched and major cultural event,” said Anthony Kiendl, CEO & Director of Vancouver Art Gallery.

The exhibition begins with an Interactive Introduction inviting visitors to actively identify diverse areas of cultural production influenced by artificial intelligence. Twenty Objects of Wonder speak to the history of AI and the critical advances in this technology that have shaped the present and continue to influence the future. Interactive installations feature exemplary uses of AI in the production and presentation of visual culture— inviting gallery-goers to consider their own identity as data within the realm of AI. Two major artworks by internationally renowned artists Sougwen Chung and Scott Eaton are showcased among numerous other projects. Sougwen Chung is a former research fellow at MIT Media Lab and an award-winning innovator in the field of human-machine collaboration in art. Scott Eaton’s stunning interdisciplinary work draws deeply on the history of animation, art, figure studies, machine learning and the physics of movement.

From the early moments of its creation, AI has captured the imaginations of cultural producers around the world. Unsurprisingly, much of the early research on AI engaged with human-centered ideas of imitation and emulation. The exhibition borrows its title from the mathematician Alan Turing’s famous notion of the “imitation game” that could be used to test a machine’s capacity to display intelligent behaviour in a manner that would be indistinguishable from natural human behaviour. Today, AI is a commonplace part of our day-to-day lives as evidenced by intelligent agents like Siri or Alexa, and cultural producers embrace it as a fundamental tool with wide creative application. Advances in deep learning profoundly affect realms including animation, architecture, art, architecture, fashion, film, games, graphics, performance, theatre, product design, urban design, industrial design and video. The Imitation Game dramatically traces AI’s history and critically highlights AI’s vast and varied creative scope and potential. Extending the exhibition’s reach beyond the Gallery’s walls, The Imitation Game is accompanied by a freely available digital publication.

Years in the making, this exciting and extensively researched exhibition is conceived and organized by Bruce Grenville, Senior Curator, Vancouver Art Gallery, and co-curator Glenn Entis, computer animation and video game pioneer. The co-curators worked closely with advisers drawn from communities active in the research and production of artificial intelligence. In addition, they collaborated extensively with the Centre for Digital Media, a research and production-oriented graduate program jointly administered by the University of British Columbia, the British Columbia Institute of Technology, Emily Carr University of Art + Design and Simon Fraser University. The participation of the University of British Columbia Public Humanities Hub facilitated direct connections to AI research and collaboration opportunities at UBC.