Amber Frid-Jimenez
Amber Frid-Jimenez is an artist whose work explores the role of design and technology in contemporary society. Her work investigates the aesthetics and cultural mechanics of the network through experimental platforms and visual installations. Projects include Burning Ballet Mecanique (2018), This is Not a Test (2016), Data Is Political: On Contemporary Art, Design and the Politics of Information, which explores the aesthetic and political dimensions of information and its relation to power and the production of knowledge. Frid-Jimenez is the co-author of a forthcoming book by the same title. She is the author of a recently published artist theory book entitled La Lucha Sin Fin: On Charisma and Its Persuasive Technologies, published by the Jan van Eyck (2012).
Frid-Jimenez is a partner at AFJD, a studio at the intersection of architecture and information. She is Canada Research Chair in art and design technology, and an associate professor at Emily Carr University of Art and Design. She is on leave from her position as associate professor at the Bergen National Academy of Art and Design (Norway), serves as a supervisor for the Norwegian Artistic Research Programme, has been a design researcher at the Jan van Eyck Academie (Netherlands), and an affiliate artist at the M.I.T. Program for Art, Culture and Technology (Cambridge, MA), where she co-directed symposia and taught with former director Ute Meta Bauer. She has lectured at Brown University, Cornell University, Harvard University and the Rhode Island School of Design.
Frid-Jimenez has presented her work internationally at institutions including the Smithsonian Institution, Casco Office for Art Design and Theory (NL), Maison Europeenne de la Photographie (Paris, FR), A Foundation (Liverpool, UK), Contemporary Art Gallery (Vancouver), Western Front (Vancouver), Banff New Media Institute (Alberta, CA), Media Lab Prado (Madrid, SP), among others. Her work has been featured on the New York Times, Bloomberg TV, Huffington Post, the Boston Globe, CBC Radio, Bustler, ArchDaily, Architizer, Art21, Manystuff, Infosthetics, We Make Money Not Art, among others.
Frid-Jimenez holds a Science Masters in Media Arts and Sciences from the M.I.T. Media Laboratory where she studied with John Maeda in the Physical Language Workshop. Prior to that, she worked as a design researcher in the Cognitive Machines Group, directed by Dr. Deb Roy. at M.I.T. Frid-Jimenez has worked as a professional book designer for institutions including the Smithsonian Institution and Harvard University Press, among others. She earned her bachelor’s degree in fine art and philosophy from Wesleyan University.
Frid-Jimenez is a partner at AFJD, a studio at the intersection of architecture and information. She is Canada Research Chair in art and design technology, and an associate professor at Emily Carr University of Art and Design. She is on leave from her position as associate professor at the Bergen National Academy of Art and Design (Norway), serves as a supervisor for the Norwegian Artistic Research Programme, has been a design researcher at the Jan van Eyck Academie (Netherlands), and an affiliate artist at the M.I.T. Program for Art, Culture and Technology (Cambridge, MA), where she co-directed symposia and taught with former director Ute Meta Bauer. She has lectured at Brown University, Cornell University, Harvard University and the Rhode Island School of Design.
Frid-Jimenez has presented her work internationally at institutions including the Smithsonian Institution, Casco Office for Art Design and Theory (NL), Maison Europeenne de la Photographie (Paris, FR), A Foundation (Liverpool, UK), Contemporary Art Gallery (Vancouver), Western Front (Vancouver), Banff New Media Institute (Alberta, CA), Media Lab Prado (Madrid, SP), among others. Her work has been featured on the New York Times, Bloomberg TV, Huffington Post, the Boston Globe, CBC Radio, Bustler, ArchDaily, Architizer, Art21, Manystuff, Infosthetics, We Make Money Not Art, among others.
Frid-Jimenez holds a Science Masters in Media Arts and Sciences from the M.I.T. Media Laboratory where she studied with John Maeda in the Physical Language Workshop. Prior to that, she worked as a design researcher in the Cognitive Machines Group, directed by Dr. Deb Roy. at M.I.T. Frid-Jimenez has worked as a professional book designer for institutions including the Smithsonian Institution and Harvard University Press, among others. She earned her bachelor’s degree in fine art and philosophy from Wesleyan University.
After Dark | Disco Ball and Fireworks | LED panels | 6.5x6.5x6.5 in.
Amber Frid-Jimenez
"The Imitation Game: Visual Culture in the Age of Artificial Intelligence"
at the Vancouver Art Gallery
March 5 - October 23, 2022
The Imitation Game surveys the extraordinary uses (and abuses) of artificial intelligence (AI) in the production of modern and contemporary visual culture around the world. The exhibition follows a chronological narrative that first examines the development of artificial intelligence, from the 1950s to the present, through a precise historical lens. Building on this foundation, it emphasizes the explosive growth of AI across disciplines, including animation, architecture, art, fashion, graphic design, urban design and video games, over the past decade. Revolving around the important roles of machine learning and computer vision in AI research and experimentation, The Imitation Game reveals the complex nature of this new tool and demonstrates its importance for cultural production.
Featured artists, designers and architects include *airegan, Stafford Beer, BIG, Ben Bogart, Gui Bonsiepe, Sougwen Chung, Muriel Cooper, DeepDream, Stephanie Dinkins, Scott Eaton, Epic Games, Amber Frid-Jimenez, Neri Oxman, Patrick Pennefather and WETA, among others.
Organized by the Vancouver Art Gallery and curated by Bruce Grenville, Senior Curator and Glenn Entis, Guest Curator
Featured artists, designers and architects include *airegan, Stafford Beer, BIG, Ben Bogart, Gui Bonsiepe, Sougwen Chung, Muriel Cooper, DeepDream, Stephanie Dinkins, Scott Eaton, Epic Games, Amber Frid-Jimenez, Neri Oxman, Patrick Pennefather and WETA, among others.
Organized by the Vancouver Art Gallery and curated by Bruce Grenville, Senior Curator and Glenn Entis, Guest Curator
Amber Frid-Jimenez | Après Ballet mécanique, 2018
two-channel video | 12:05 min.
Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery
Après Ballet mécanique (2018) is a video created by Frid-Jimenez that uses artificial intelligence to generate a new configuration of Fernand Léger's experimental film Ballet mécanique (1924). Ballet mécanique is an important and influential work within European modernist art of the early 20th century. Using aggressively experimental film techniques and subject matter, Léger created a new kind of image.
To produce her work, Après Ballet mécanique, Frid-Jimenez takes a similarly experimental approach, using Léger's film to construct a learning set - the dataset of images used to "train" an artificial neural network - and then reconstruct a new version of the film from within the multidimensional image space produced by the neural network. The result is a very different film, reflecting a sense of time, space and form that is firmly rooted in the age of artificial intelligence.
two-channel video | 12:05 min.
Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery
Après Ballet mécanique (2018) is a video created by Frid-Jimenez that uses artificial intelligence to generate a new configuration of Fernand Léger's experimental film Ballet mécanique (1924). Ballet mécanique is an important and influential work within European modernist art of the early 20th century. Using aggressively experimental film techniques and subject matter, Léger created a new kind of image.
To produce her work, Après Ballet mécanique, Frid-Jimenez takes a similarly experimental approach, using Léger's film to construct a learning set - the dataset of images used to "train" an artificial neural network - and then reconstruct a new version of the film from within the multidimensional image space produced by the neural network. The result is a very different film, reflecting a sense of time, space and form that is firmly rooted in the age of artificial intelligence.