Both Sides Now 9: Generations is a curated programme of international film & video examining AI’s creative and cultural implications on a global scale.
Humanity stands at the brink of a new era of automation, poised for a profound transformation. The latest advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are revolutionising our way of life. Both Sides Now 9 delves into the subject using video artwork from Hong Kong, the UK and internationally, delving into the intricate interplay between generative technology and creativity.
Participating artists and artworks:
Axl Le, The Journey, 2020, The Patient, 2021, A hundred Varieties of Life 2021-22
Doreen Chan, HalfDream: Promotional Video, 2021 © VH AWARD by Hyundai Motor Group
Jake Elwes, Zizi & Me – Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better), 2020, Making of the Zizi Show, 2021.
Jonas Lund, The Future of Something, 2023.
Kachi Chan, Reconstructed, 2022.
Lau Wai, The Dome, 2023.
Paul Trillo, Jacques – “Absolve”, 2023.
Curators: Isaac Leung, Jamie Wyld
Popular AI tools such as ChatGPT and Midjourney have made AI more familiar – but what do they mean for the future of creativity? Both Sides Now 9: Generations reveals how artists are using AI to create ambitious, unique and sensational works. It explores the possibilities for artists and filmmakers, showing how AI has provoked an explosion of imaginative new art and film. Do we know what the impact of AI might be? Both Sides Now 9 hopefully has some answers.
Jamie Wyld, director, videoclub
Both Sides Now 9: Generations Screenings
Manchester
25th April 2024 (time TBC) esea contemporary, 13 Thomas St, Manchester M4 1EU, United Kingdom
£5 / CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR TICKET
Brighton
30th April 2024 (time TBC) Fabrica, 40 Duke St, Brighton and Hove, Brighton BN1 1AG, United Kingdom
Tickets: £3.50 / CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR TICKET
London
9th May 2024 (time TBC) The Horse Hospital (Colonnade, London WC1N 1JD, United Kingdom)
Tickets: £3.50 / CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR TICKET
Co-organisers: Videotage @videotage_hk + videoclub @videoclub_uk
Videotage is financially supported by the HKADC.
Hong Kong Arts Development Council fully supports freedom of artistic expression. The views and opinions expressed in this project do not represent the stand of the Council.
About the Artists
Jake Elwes (b.1993, UK) Zizi & Me – Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better), 2020, 4:52 + Making of the Zizi Show 2021, 6:19.
Jake is an artist, hacker, neuroqueer, educator and researcher living in London. They’re currently working to queer artificial intelligence with deepfake drag performers. Across projects that encompass moving-image installation, sound and performance, Jake’s work finds unusual ways of demystifying, mapping and subverting technology. Their work searches for poetry and narrative in the successes and failures of digital systems. Works include deepfake drag in The Zizi Project, glitching oppressive algorithms in Machine Learning Porn and reframing AI-generated marsh birds back into nature in CUSP. They have been making art exploring the aesthetics and ethics of machine learning systems since the very first generative AI models in 2016. Jake’s work also calls for us to challenge who builds these systems and for what purpose, and whether we, as artists and queers, can reclaim these technologies to build our own digital utopias.
Jake studied at The Slade School of Fine Art, UCL (2013-17), and their work has been exhibited in museums and galleries internationally, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich; Somerset House, London; ZKM, Karlsruhe; Today Art Museum, Beijing; Frankfurter Kunstverein; Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland; Honor Fraser Gallery, LA; Fundacion Telefonica Museum, Madrid; Ars Electronica, Austria; Zabludowicz Collection, London; Sculpture in the City, London; Science Gallery Dublin; RMIT Gallery, Melbourne; Onassis Foundation, Athens; E-WERK Freiburg, Germany; Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin; Nature Morte, Delhi; Centre for the Future of Intelligence, Cambridge and they have been featured on ZDF aspekte, ARD ttt (DE), BBC Radio 4 Front Row, and BBC1’s Kill Your TV – History of Video Art (UK).
Paul Trillo, Jacques – “Absolve”, 2023, 4:43
Paul is a multi-disciplinary artist, writer, and director who challenges both his own curiosity and illusion with his experimental, conceptual, and highly technical films. His diverse body of work spans various genres and formats, and he is constantly pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in filmmaking. His recent explorations into the future of AI filmmaking have changed the way these tools are used, inspiring others to explore the possibilities of this exciting new field.
Paul’s work has earned him 18 Vimeo Staff Picks and has been featured in wide range of media outlets, including Rolling Stone, Vice, Sight and Sound, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, FastCo, Gizmodo, Ad Age, GQ, MIT Review, and Scientific American, among others. He has been recognized as one of D&AD’s Next Directors and has won several awards, including “The One Show’s One to Watch” and “30 Under 30 Film Festival’s Director to Watch.” Whether he’s screening his work around the world or participating in panels and juries at festivals like NVIDIA GTC, SXSW, Infinity Fest, Northside Festival, Runway AI Film Festival, and the ADC Awards, Paul is always looking for new ways to push the boundaries of what’s possible.
Axl Le, The Journey, 2020, 3:49 + The Patient, 2020, 1:38 + A hundred Varieties of Life, 2021-22 2:40
Le is a digital artist and filmmaker born in 1989 in Shanghai, China, currently living in Oslo, Norway. He has been creating digital art since 2016. Since 2019 he has devoted most of his energy to the creation of CG video work. Through using 3D software as his main tool of creation, Axl explores the relationship between nature and technology, society and individual, present and future.
Jonas Lund, The Future of Something, 2023, 13:41
Jonas is a Swedish conceptual artist who creates paintings, sculptures, photography, websites and performances that critically reflect on contemporary networked systems and power structures. His artistic practice involves creating systems and setting up parameters that oftentimes require engagement from the viewer. This results in game-like artworks where tasks are executed according to algorithms or a set of rules. Through his works, Lund investigates the latest issues generated by the increasing digitalisation of contemporary society like authorship, participation and authority. At the same time, he questions the mechanisms of the art world, challenging the production process, authoritative power and art market practices.
Lund earned an MA at Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam (2013) and a BFA at Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam (2009). He has had solo exhibitions at The Photographers’ Gallery (2019), Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (2016), Steve Turner, Los Angeles (2016, 2015, 2014), Växjö Konsthall Sweden (2016), Showroom MAMA, Rotterdam (2013), New Museum, New York (2012), and has had work included in numerous group exhibitions including Centre Pompidou, Paris, Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin, ZKM, Karlsruhe, Vienna Biennale 2019, Witte De With, Rotterdam, Kindl – Centre for Contemporary Art, Berlin, and the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. His work has been written about in Artforum, Frieze, Kunstforum, The New Yorker, The Guardian, Metropolis M, Artslant, Rhizome, Huffington Post, Furtherfield, Wired and more.
Doreen Chan, HalfDream: Promotional Video, 2021 © VH AWARD by Hyundai Motor Group
Chan (b.1987, Hong Kong) is a mixed-media artist focusing on social practice. She was trained in visual communication and photography before receiving her MA in Art Education from School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2021. In her work, Chan re-examines the tensions between interpersonal relationships and subject formation. Through collecting, selecting, and reorganizing fragments from everyday life, she explores how individuals interact with collective and personal memories. She works site-specifically on installations, public programs, virtual projects, and collaborates with a wide range of individuals using images, sculptures, objects, sounds, and performance.
Chan has exhibited in institutions such as Ars Electronica Festival 2022 (Linz), UCCA Center for Contemporary Art (Beijing), Times Museum (Guangzhou), Art Omi (New York), and Para Site (Hong Kong). In 2023, her commissioned project, Sipping Dreams, inaugurated Tai Kwun Contemporary’s V Hall. In the same year, she was listed as ArtReview China’s Future Greats. In 2021, she was an Eyebeam fellow and the 4th VH Award of Hyundai Motor Group finalist. She was also selected as Cultured Magazine’s Young Artists (2021). Chan currently lives in New York.
Lau Wai, The Dome, Single channel 4K video (CGI 3D animation),2023, 1’51
Born and raised in Hong Kong, Wai currently lives and works in New York. They utilize personal and historical archives, cinematic imagery, popular culture, and emerging technologies to investigate how history, fiction, personal memory, and virtuality collide in the process of identity formation. Their practice involves moving images, new media, photography, sculptural objects, and installation.
Their works are collected by The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (United States); Alexander Tutsek – Stiftung Foundation (Germany), and M+ (Hong Kong), among others. They have exhibited at international events and institutions, including Brandts Museum of Art and Visual Culture, Denmark (2016); Power Station of Art, Shanghai (2018); Para Site, Hong Kong (2015, 2018); Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong (2019, 2021); Kuandu Biennale, Taiwan (2018); Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale, Japan (2015); The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, United States (2019) and Yokohama Triennale, Japan (2020).
Kachi Chan, Reconstructed, 2022, 4’
Kachi Chan is an artist and researcher who navigates the spaces between the physical and digital worlds. His exploration takes form through computational design, digital realities and robotics. His research primarily focused on employing cultural informatics to recast social issues artistically, all while giving voice to lesser-known perspectives within systems.
Kachi was a recipient of the Hong Kong Scholarship for Excellence, which enabled him to pursue advanced studies at the Royal College of Art and Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London.
Kachi’s research-driven artistry has gained significant recognition, including an Honorary Mention at Prix Ars Electronica, the Bartlett Medal, OPPO Renovators Creativity Award, and the Arts Council England Project Grant. His work has been exhibited at notable events such as Ars Electronica Festival, ISEA International, Art Basel Hong Kong and London Design Festival.
Kachi is currently a Research Assistant Professor at the Hong Kong Baptist University where he teaches histories and theories within media art.
About Both Sides Now
Both Sides Now is a tactical programme partnership between Videotage (HK) and videoclub (UK). Which uses contemporary and historical film and video work to explore developments within the culture and society of Hong Kong, China, the UK, and beyond.
