It is common to say that AI is associated far more often with technology than with craftsmanship ever since its emergence. Meanwhile，in ancient times, artists and architects in China were considered “craftsmen”. In the west, the boundary between craftsmen and artists/architects used to be distinct and began to become blurred during the Renaissance.

In the contemporary societies, artists and architects integrate two roles, craftsman and knowledge producer, in one. On the one hand, it’s worth probing into the interplay among so-called “hand feeling” and inspiration, skills and knowledge, art and science, the traditional and the cutting-edge in the work of artists and architects of contemporary times. And on the other, if AI is to be considered as a kind of “craftsmanship”, does the convenience brought about by algorithm and automation weaken the aura of the creative subject or, on the contrary, further emancipate the mind and promote the creative developments of the craftsmanship?

HOW Art Museum in collaboration with Aiiiii Art Center, Tongji University College of Design and Innovation and Art & Artificial Intelligence Lab invites three architects and artists from different cultural backgrounds but all constantly involving AI technology in their practice to have a roundtable discussion. On Saturday from 14:00 to 15:30, architect/designer Kostas Terzidis, architect Hua Hao and artist Shi Zheng will share with audience the role of AI in their practice and how to live and work with AI on a day-to-day basis. The roundtable will be moderated by curator and researcher Jo Wei.

About the Host

Jo Wei 

Jo Wei is a curator and researcher active in the global field of Art, Science and Technology(AST), and her practice includes exhibition curation, research, writing, translation and teaching. She has recently served as an International advisor for internationally renowned AST projects such as STARTS and ISEA, as well as an editorial board member of Annual of Contemporary Art of China and a member of the academic committee of the "The Thinker”. Among the list of her many curations are Quasi-Nature：Bio Art, Borderline, Laboratory (2019, Hyundai Motorstudio, Beijing), and When Forms do not Become Attitude (2016, CAFAM, Beijing).

Date：02.06.2022 Sat. 14:00-15:30

Venue: HOW Art Museum (Shanghai) 1F

No.1, Lane 2277, Zuchongzhi Road, Pudong New district, Shanghai