Zoom, Passcode SAICVAP

Join us for an artist talk and conversation with Ian Cheng. Drawing on principles of video game design, improvisation, and cognitive science, Cheng's practice explores the nature of mutation and the capacity of humans to relate to change. He produces computer-generated simulations whose complex ecosystems are programmed to evolve without end. These projects culminated in the Emissaries trilogy (2014–17), a set of works in which the motivation of a narrative agent—the emissary—is set into conflict with the open-ended chaos of the simulation. In 2019, he debuted BOB (Bag of Beliefs), an AI creature whose personality, body, and life story evolve across exhibitions, what Cheng calls “art with a nervous system.”

Presented in partnership with SAIC's Visiting Artists Program.