From left to right: Yoon Chung Han, Simon Hudson, Jiabao Li, Weidi Zhang
In this episode of SIGGRAPH Spotlight, SIGGRAPH 2023 Art Gallery chair Yoon Chung Han leads a stimulating discussion on the captivating interplay between art and artificial intelligence (AI). The featured guests, Simon Hudson, Jiabao Li, and Weidi Zhang, delve deep into the innovative world of AI-driven artistry and explore the ways it has revolutionized the creative landscape. As the discussion unfolds, the guests share their personal journeys in merging art and AI, recounting the awe-inspiring moments when AI models transcended traditional art forms and produced extraordinary creations. They highlight the importance of striking a balance between human input and AI automation to foster true creativity, where AI is a collaborator rather than a substitute for human ingenuity. Listen to the episode for a glimpse into the evolving landscape of art and artificial intelligence, as well as words of wisdom from these legendary artists for up-and-coming innovators.
Don’t miss a single episode by subscribing to the show on Apple Podcasts (iTunes), Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, iHeartRadio, or Google Podcasts. If you like the show, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts to help other listeners find us!
SIGGRAPH 2023 is almost here! Check out the full program to discover what you’ll experience 6-10 August in Los Angeles. Plus, there’s still time to register!
Yoon C Han is an interactive media artist and award-winning interaction designer. Over the past ten years, she has created a wide range of interactive 2D/3D audiovisual art installations including biologic art using physical computing, web-based data visualization, biometric data sonification, generative art, and musical interface design. Her principal interest in interactive art/design has been in exploring new multimodal experience using the human body data and audiovisual components. She has investigated the new ways of visualizing sound and sonifying visuals in many different forms such as interaction design, data visualization/sonification, interactive art installations, and sound visualizations. Her recent research focus was on multimodal interactions using body data, in particular on creating a personalized experience in media arts using biometric data visualization and sonification. Her works have been presented in many international exhibitions, conferences and academic journals such as ACM SIGGRAPH Art gallery, Japan Media Arts Festival, London Science Museum, Media City Seoul, ZKM, NIME, ISEA, ACM Multimedia, IEEE Vis, and Leonardo Journal.
She earned her bachelor and the first Master degree at the Seoul National University, and her second master degree at Design | Media Arts, University of California, Los Angeles. She worked at Samsung Electronics in S. Korea as a graphic designer and was a visiting researcher/data visualization specialist at SENSEable City Lab, MIT in Cambridge, MA. She holds Ph.D. in Media Arts and Technology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is currently an associate professor in the department of design in the San Jose State University.
Simon Hudson is part of the core team behind Botto, a decentralized autonomous artist. Botto creates its work without human intervention, generating its own prompts to output thousands of images a week with models like Stable Diffusion. Simon’s role includes operating the BottoDAO that governs Botto to align it to make great art, and has led design of the governance system, economy, and research and contributor programs. Prior to joining Botto, Simon worked as a writer and researcher at a private AI research lab, Element AI, in Montreal where he investigated subjects in AI governance and human-machine collaboration.
Jiabao Li creates works addressing climate change, interspecies co-creation, humane technology, and perceptions. Her mediums include wearable, robot, AR/VR, performance, scientific experiment, installation. In Jiabao’s TED Talk, she uncovered how technology mediates the way we perceive reality. Jiabao is a Tenure Track Assistant Professor at The University of Texas at Austin. Her lab explores the intersection of art, design, technology, and biology. She graduated from Harvard GSD with Distinction and thesis award. Jiabao is the recipient of numerous awards, including Forbes China 30 Under 30, iF Design Award, Falling Walls, NEA, STARTS Prize, Fast Company, Core77, IDSA, A’ Design Award, Webby Award, Cannes World Film Festival Best VR short Award. Her work has been exhibited internationally, at Venice Architecture Biennale, MoMA, Ars Electronica, Today Art Museum Biennial, SIGGRAPH, Milan and Dubai Design Week, Ming Contemporary Museum, ISEA, Anchorage Museum, OCAT Contemporary Art Terminal, CHI, Museum of Design, Alaska State Museum. Her work has been featured on Fast Company, Art Forum, Business Insider, Bloomberg, Yahoo, South China Morning Post, TechCrunch, Domus, Yanko Design, Harvard Political Review, The National, Leonardo, Exceptional ALIEN.
Weidi Zhang is a new media artist/designer based in Los Angeles and Phoenix. She is a tenure-track Assistant Professor of immersive experience design at the Media and Immersive eXperience (MIX) center of Arizona State University. Her interdisciplinary art and design research investigates A Speculative Assemblage at the intersection of immersive media design, experimental data visualization, and interactive AI art.Her works are featured in international awards, such as the Best In Show Award in SIGGRAPH (2021,2022), Red Dot Design Award (2022), Honorary Mention in Prix Ars Electronica (2022), Juried Selection in Japan Media Arts Festival(2020), Lumen Prize shortlists (2020, 2021), and others. Her works have been exhibited at international venues such as ISEA, Times Art Museum (CN), Society For Arts and Technology (CA), SwissNex Gallery (USA), CVPR, IEEE VISAP, V2_Lab (NL), Zeiss-Planetarium Jena (GE), Planetarium 1 (RUS), and others. As a visual designer, She worked in the award-winning visual design studios in LA, and she was selected for Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) educational initiative for entertainment design in 2015. She holds her Ph.D. degree in Media Arts and Technology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, an MFA degree in Art + Technology at the California Institute of the Arts, and a BFA degree in Photo/Media at the University of Washington, Seattle. She lectured at both UC Santa Barbara and The Ohio State University
