Beyond the Human?: From the Metaphysical to the Physical

Co-curated by USC Vice Provost for the Arts Josh Kun and renowned contemporary artist Cai Guo-Qiang, Beyond the Human?: From the Metaphysical to the Physical is a daylong symposium that explores the impact of AI on the arts.
Speakers and performers from the worlds of visual art, dance, technology, literature, architecture, film, and music will ponder and explore questions including:
> What is the role of the artist in a computational future?
> What are the promises and perils of AI’s expansion of what it means to be human?
> What is AI’s potential for moving us beyond human exceptionalism into realms of inter-species and inter-materialist consciousness?
> Can AI move us beyond a singular self?
> How does AI impact our sense of the physical?
> How does AI imagine and enact the metaphysical?
> How can artists use AI to build new worlds?
Confirmed participants:
- Refik Anadol, New Media Artist and Designer
- Minne Atairu, AI Researcher and Multidisciplinary Artist
- Nancy Baker-Cahill, New Media Artist
- Burcen Becerik-Gerber, Dean's Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at USC Viterbi
- Cai Guo-Qiang, Contemporary Artist
- Catie Cuan, Entrepreneur, Engineer, and Artist
- Aroussiak Gabrielian, Environmental Designer, Bioartist, and USC Professor of Landscape Architecture and Media Arts
- Zoe Hitzig, Poet and PhD Candidate in Economics at Harvard University
- Bennett Miller, Award-Winning Director of Capote and Foxcatcher, Best Director of the 2014 Cannes Film Festival
- Troy Therrien, Mystery Architect
- Ben Vickers, Curator, Writer, Explorer, Publisher, Technologist, and Luddite
- Harry Yeff aka Reeps100, Neurodivergent Media Artist and Vocalist
- Kira Xonorika, AI-Collaborative Artist, Author, and Futurist
Pop-up film screenings will be curated by Holly Willis, USC professor of cinematic arts.
Lunch generously provided by Tigawok powered by Next Robot AI Cooking Robot.

Click here to learn more.

Related events:
Daytime Fireworks by Cai Guo-Qiang
WE ARE: Explosion Event for PST ART
Sunday, September 15, 2024
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Commissioned and presented by PST ART, in collaboration with USC.
For more information, click .
Cai Guo-Qiang: A Material Odyssey
Tuesday, September 17, 2024–Sunday, June 15, 2025
USC Pacific Asia Museum
Co-organized by PST ART and the USC Pacific Asia Museum.
For more information, click .

Presented by USC Arts Now. Co-sponsored by USC Visions and Voices and the USC Center for Generative AI and Society.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Bovard Auditorium, 3551 Trousdale Parkway, Los Angeles, United States