Every algorithm encodes a future.
Artificial intelligence structures the sociotechnical terrain of our present, and the human agents who train it shape political imaginaries of what is yet to come. From predictive policing to judicial risk assessment to border surveillance to automated hiring, the encoded biases of AI systems magnify existing structural inequalities. Predictive models don’t forecast a world that might be: they reproduce the world depicted in their training data. They project worlds marked by algorithmic oppression (Safiya Noble), the New Jim Code (Ruha Benjamin), algorithmic violence (Mimi Ọnụọha), and algorithmic coloniality (Shakir Mohamed, Marie-Therese Png, & William Isaac).
Algorithmic worldmaking often unfolds in a “black box”: an opaque space of automated decision-making whose rationale is hidden from public view. Researchers and cultural workers are opening up the black box for scrutiny to imagine possibilities for feminist, antiracist, and decolonial AI. This exhibition assembles the work of artists who visualize the limits of our current algorithmic imaginaries, and envision speculative futures engineered for just outcomes.
Encoding Futures is co-curated by Oxy Arts and Mashinka Firunts Hakopian, Mellon Professor of the Practice at Occidental College.
Exhibiting artists include:
Algorithmic Justice League,Stephanie Dinkins, Aroussiak Gabrielian, Maya Ganesh with Padmini Ray Murray and Pratyush Raman of Design Beku, Kite, Lauren Lee McCarthy, Niama Safia Sandy, Caroline Sinders, Astria Suparak, and Mandy Harris Williams.
Exhibition and programming made possible with the generous support of the Remsen Bird Fund.
**We are taking care to ensure guests are able to visit Oxy Arts safely. COVID related safety measures, including masks and proof of vaccination, will be required.
Image Credit:
Detail from Astria Suparak's Asian futures, without Asians series, with image from Ghost in the Shell, 2020-Present
