Synthetic Imaginaries

Synthetic Imaginaries is part of the LAB#03 project Synthetic Minds, and is curated by Julia Kaganskiy. This sequential audiovisual exhibition seeks to explore the impact of artificial intelligence and related technologies on our societies, cultures and scientific systems. It also interrogates the very essence of the concept of "intelligence" and how it materialises in different forms, including non-human and non-biological intelligences.

The exhibition is structured in four thematic arcs that follow one after the other over the 8-month duration of the exhibition. Each thematic arc occupies the exhibition space for a limited time until it is replaced by the next. 

The exhibition delves into topics such as non-human and even non-biological intelligences and their impact on our perception of the world, agency and free will; the role of complexity sciences in the design of more resilient and operational social and institutional structures; the relationship between computation and the monitoring and management of the climate crisis, as well as the capacity of these systems to establish appropriate models of ecosystemic governance on a planetary scale; and the existential risks or Promethean potential of achieving technological singularity (Hard Artificial Intelligence) in the coming decades.

Synthetic Imaginaries’ first iteration will be opening at the end of September 2023.