You're invited to a public lecture featuring transmedia artist Stephanie Dinkins.
5:15 p.m. Reception
6:00 p.m. Talk (attendees can choose to attend virtually or in-person)
“On Love & Data”
“On Love & Data” develops a dialogue with hierarchies embedded within machine learning and AI architecture and one’s individual agency in transforming the algorithms within it. Many algorithmic technologies are rooted in methods that limit and cajole information from humans and computational assumptions. We assess ourselves using false dichotomies that force inadequate choices building a world bereft of complexity and nuance. The disinclinations of our systems to cope with the unseen, the unknown, difference and change limit possibilities for everyone. Through intelligent technologies—the ones that look like us, the ones that serve us and the ones that do neither—we have the ability to understand and organize human activity with complexity and broadly principled care. So, why aren’t these the goals of our algorithmic doppelgangers, assistants and technological ecosystems more generally?
Often envisioned outside the realm of what is technologically possible within artificial intelligence, care is an essential aspect of human information and resource-sharing networks that aid our survival. Recognition of this idea raises questions such as how can we infuse—cooperatively, adversarially or fugitively—ecosystems we depend on as well as the people and institutions currently holding power with ways of being, values, ethics and knowledges they are blind to or don’t understand?
About the Speaker
Stephanie Dinkins is a transmedia artist who creates projects that foster dialog about race, gender, aging and our future histories. Her art practice centers emerging technologies, documentary practices, and social collaboration toward more equitable social and technological ecosystems. Dinkins holds the Kusama Endowed Professorship in Art at Stony Brook University, where she founded the Future Histories Studio.
Dinkins exhibits internationally. She is the inaugural recipient of the LG-Guggenhiem Award for artists working at the intersection of art and technology. She is a United States Artist Fellow, Knight Arts & Tech Fellow and Creative Capital Grantee. Her art practice has been generously supported by the Berggruen Institute, Onassis Foundation, Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, Soros Equality Fellowship, Eyebeam, Pioneer Works Tech Lab, NEW INC, Nokia Bell Labs, Blue Mountain Center; The Laundromat Project; Santa Fe Art Institute and Art/Omi. ‘
Wired, Art In America, Artsy, Art21, Hyperallergic, the BBC, The Nod Podcast, Rightclicksave.com and a host of popular podcasts and online publications have highlighted Dinkins’ art and ideas. Recent exhibitions include: In Search of the Present, Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Espoo Finland, Stephanie Dinkins: On Love & Data, Queens Museum of Art, (2021-2022), FUTURES, Smithsonian Arts & Industry Building, Washington D.C. (2021-22); BioMedia. The Era of life-like Media, ZKM| Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, DE, (2022) and The Imitation Game, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada.
Admission to this public lecture series is complimentary, and events are held in the auditorium of the R. Michael Shanahan Center for Teaching and Learning at Harvey Mudd College located at 320 E. Foothill Blvd., Claremont, California.
Dr. Bruce J. Nelson ’74 Distinguished Speaker Series
The 2023 Nelson Series, “Being Human in the Age of AI” brings together three visionary thinkers, Jaron Lanier, Ruha Benjamin and Stephanie Dinkins as they explore the complex interplay between humanity, artificial intelligence and the future. This enlightening series will delve into the ethical, social, aesthetic and technological dimensions that shape our lives in the emerging AI age.
Photo/Video Disclaimer: We will be taking photos and video during the Nelson Series reception and lecture. If you prefer not to be included, please step away from the camera. Photos and video may be used for records, promotional materials or advertising efforts and shall remain the property of the College.