Amber Frid-Jimenez, Burning Ballet Mécanique, 2018, Video 16min. Courtesy of the artist.
Join Amber Frid-Jimenez and T’ai Smith as they discuss Frid-Jimenez’s work in the exhibition, Burning Ballet Méchanique. The piece’s title refers to the 1924 experimental film Ballet Méchanique by artist Fernand Léger and filmmaker Dudley Murphy. This early dadaist work produced a psychological meditation on mechanised technology in the wake of the First World War, an early realization of the uncanny dimensions of an increasingly industrialised Europe. After deconstructing this film into sequential frames, Frid-Jimenez uses these images to “train” an artificial neural network, or AI, which then produces a new composite film automatically. Citing the history of the film score, Smith and Frid-Jimenez will discuss the technology of AI and the invisible and recursive figure of the automaton after dada and surrealism.
Amber Frid-Jimenez is an artist based in Vancouver whose recent work explores the aesthetics and cultural mechanics of the network. Her work is situated at the intersection of contemporary art, design and technology, looking at the circulation of digital images through physical installations, visual systems, code, books and virtual platforms. Her work has been shown at the Casco Office for Art Design and Theory; the Maison Europeenne de la Photographie; the Jan van Eyck, and the Vancouver Art Gallery, among other venues. Frid-Jimenez holds an MSc in Media Arts and Sciences from the M.I.T. Media Laboratory and has a BA in visual art and philosophy from Wesleyan University. She is currently Canada Research Chair in art and design technology at Emily Carr University in Vancouver, where she directs the Studio for Extensive Aesthetics.
T’ai Smith is Associate Professor of Art History at The University of British Columbia, where she has worked on unceded Musqueam territory since 2012. Focused on issues of gender, anonymity, textile media, and political economy, she has published in various journals and museum catalogues, including Art Journal, Grey Room, Texte zur Kunst, ZMK (Zeitschrift für Medien- und Kulturforschung), the Museum of Modern Art in NY, and the ICA Boston. Author of Bauhaus Weaving Theory: From Feminine Craft to Mode of Design (University of Minnesota Press, 2014), she is currently finishing a second book manuscript titled Fashion After Capital, to be published by Bloomsbury.