Brave New Work: AI and Tech in the Hands of Artists
A Symposium and Public Art Exhibition

Programming: 

Tuesday, 10.07

3:15 -4:30pm Historic Masonic Temple

Opening Remarks

“The Human Element: Designing Empathy into the Machine Age”

> How do we ensure that the future of artificial intelligence remains rooted in human values, emotion, and connection? In this cross-disciplinary conversation, Kevin Davis, head of Amazon’s Alexa AI project in Santa Barbara, and Forest Stearns, artist-in-residence at Google’s Quantum AI Lab in Goleta, explore the quiet power of design, voice, and visual culture in shaping how we live with intelligent systems. While Davis works at the cutting edge of conversational AI, Stearns brings warmth and humanity into stark research environments through mural-scale art and collaboration. Together, they ask: What does it mean to make machines—and the spaces around them—feel more human?<

Moderator: Michael Delgado, EP, Brandwell Arts
Kevin Davis, Director, Amazon Alexa AI
Forest Stearns, Artist In Residence, Google Quantum Lab

4:00-6:00pm Terrace, Museum of Contemporary Art SB

Welcoming Reception; AR Installation by Nancy Baker Cahill

Sponsored By Kunin Winery

> Join the artists, speakers and fellow attendees for beverages while experiencing Baker Cahill’s special AR piece.> MCASB’s companion exhibition featuring DJ Xavier will also be open.<

7:00pm Private Residence

Private Dinner Reception

Invitation only: Artists, Speakers, Curators, Donors, Sponsors, and Angel ticket holders

PROGRAMMING:

Wednesday, 10.08

Historic Masonic Temple

“Signals & Systems: Artists Rewiring Perception in the Age of Intelligent Media”

> This multimedia panel brings together four pioneering artist-speakers in a dynamic conversation about the new architectures of perception, connection, and meaning in our digitally entangled world. Through video, still imagery, and conversation,these artists will present their own deeply distinctive works that explore themes of embodiment, ecology, technology, and consciousness. They will also engage in dialogue around works by fellow Brave New Work artists Yuge Zhou, JoAnn Kuchera Morin, Richelle Ellis Gribble, and the SuperCollider Collective, highlighting how this new generation of interdisciplinary practices collapses boundaries between science and art, virtual and real, data and sensation. Whether through biometric sensing, immersive environments, networked ecosystems, or poetic data visualizations, each artist brings a lens on how creative technology can shape more intuitive, interconnected,and reflective futures.

Moderator: Alan Macy, Founder SBCAST, BIOPAC
Nancy Baker Cahill : Artist (Via Video)
Victoria Vesna: Artist, Director Art & Science Program (UCLA)
Beatie Wolfe: Musician, Artist (Via Video)

11:30am-1:00pm

Lunch Break

12:30 - 5:30pm

Breakout Opportunities

1:00-5:30pm

Shuttle Between Venues / Walking Routes

> SB MTD routes are complimentary for all ticket holders. < No host shuttle cars are also available along a set route.< > Walking: Several of the venues are within a three quarter mile radius of each other in the downtown area. < > Shuttle service begins at Noon.<

ROUTES & TIMETABLES

2:30-3:30pm

Symbiosis or Schism? The AI - Human Odyssey

Companion Exhibition Curated by the Brill Family Foundation

> Over 12 artists address a theme of the opportunity and threats posed by AI in wide ranging approaches. <

2:30-3:30pm VADA (SBHS)

Artists’ Presentation

Isabel Beavers and Sarah Maria Rodriguez

> Supercollider.LA founding member Beavers and Sarah Maria Rodriguez present their fascinating work at the intersection of art and science.<

Every 20min (viewing limited to 12 guests per experience)

2:30 - 4:30pm The Alloshpere USCB MAT Campus

Artist Performance/ The Allosphere

Joann Kuchera Morin: Quantum Concerto

> JKM performs excerpts of her groundbreaking concerto in which she uses quantum mechanics in the way that a composer writes a classic work for a traditional orchestra. < As a pioneer in musically and visual immersive experiences, now most recognized in the technologies employed at the Sphere in Las Vegas, Kuchera-Morin is the godmother of these artistic and scientific capabilities.<

3:00-4:00pm McCune Conference Room

(6020 HSSB) at the Humanities & Social Sciences Building. UCSB Campus

“Encoded Gazes: Women of Color on Bias, Power, and Possibility in AI”

Moderator: Ana Briz , Curator Art, Design and Archiecture Museum
Haewon Jeong: Assistant Professor Electrical and Computer Engineering , UCSB
Kira Xonorika: Artist

Ana Briz and her panel explore inherent bias in AI algorythms famed through the lens of women of color, this panel interrogates the inherited biases embedded in AI systems—from facial recognition and data training sets to the aesthetic tropes of generative art. Through visual works and critical reflection, the speakers explore how identity, mythology, queerness, and resistance can become tools for subverting dominant technological narratives.

6:30-7:30pm Santa Barbara Musem of Art Auditorium

A Brief History of the Impossible

James Glisson, Chief Curator Santa Barbara Museum of Art

> Glisson explores how historical artists anticipated AI in a fascinating look at art history through the lens of contemporary technologies. <

Sunset - 9:00pm Library Plaza

Projected Public Art Work

Art Works by Nancy Baker Cahill, Richelle Ellis/ SuperColider.la, Victoria Vesna, Beatie Wolfe and Yuge Zhou

> The Library Plaza comes alive with stunning art works, produced with sophisticated technologies which focus on environmental, societal and humanist themes in inspiring ways. <

7:00- 10:00pm Sullivan Goss Gallery (Across from Library Plaza)

Public Reception

PROGRAMMING:

Thursday, 10.09

10:00-11:00am Historic Masonic Temple

Architectures of Perception: Immersion, Intelligence & the Shape of Conscious Futures

> This multidisciplinary panel explores how architectures—digital, biological, cultural, and material—shape conciousness and perception. From subatomic structures like brain organoids to immersive environments and tactile artworks made from reclaimed matter, the conversation interrogates how artistic and scientific practices are building new forms of embodied experience. Together, these speakers consider the spatial, ethical, and aesthetic frameworks that define how we feel, know, and connect in a changing world.

Moderator:Silvia Perea, Curator, Art, Design & Architecture Museum (UCSB)
Markus Novak, Director, Media Arts & Technology Program (UCSB)
Dr. Ken Kosik, Harriman Professor of Neuroscience & Co-Director, Neuroscience Research Institute (UCSB)
Mingo Opazo, Artist and Environmental Material Researcher (Ojai, CA)

7:00-10:00pm SBCAST

Closing Party/ Open Studios

Sponsored by Patron Tequila

> MAT Graduate Students open their studios, perform and showcase special installations. Live music, Taco Truck

BNW is an intimate forum. Lectures are capped at 150 attendees. The value of this conference is precisely in its scale. It is a rare opportunity to see world leaders talk about their explorations at the intersection of art and science. Interact with passionate leaders focused on building a like minded community in the region.