In this second run of the SMU Libraries Artist-in-Residence (AiR) Programme, we are pleased to welcome jo+kapi whose practice aligns with SMU’s priority in Digital Transformation. Their residency duration is from 26 August to 16 December 2024.
jo+kapi is a creative collaboration between media artists and creative technologists Jo Ho and Kapilan Naidu. Founded in 2021, the Singapore-based collective creates and curates interactive experiences and media art exhibitions centred around the duo’s shared interests in generative art, artificial intelligence and the transforming modes of creating and consuming digital art in the 21st century.
Artists Statement
Their artistic research and works critically engage with the evolving modes of consuming digital art, specifically within the dynamic discourse surrounding this space–including exploring concepts around the ownership of digital art, the seat of creative labour in algorithmically generated art, and the ongoing debates surrounding intellectual property and authorship in AI-generated artworks.
The duo also investigate how emerging technologies are transforming and inspiring alternative modalities for thinking about (digital) art, as well as how artists are responding to these developments by using technology to challenge existing norms in the creation, curation, and presentation of art.
Their ongoing ENZYME project, where works are presented through a software platform that visually transforms the displayed pieces, explores the changing nature of creating and consuming digital art. This project necessitates new approaches to curation and presentation, especially within the context of interactive art. In this setting, audiences play a crucial role in the art-making and meaning-creation process, prompting them to reconsider their role in art appreciation and consumption.
Through this residency, jo+kapi aim to further their research and artistic collaboration with machine intelligences, delving deeper into issues such as AI-authored art, proof of personhood, and generative systems. They will build upon the themes that already underpin many of the artistic and conceptual executions behind the ongoing ENZYME project, driving jo+kapi’s mission to redefine the relationship between technology and art.
Artwork image credit: jo+kapi, ENZYME 1.2 (2023), interactive installation. Exhibited at ArtScience Museum from August 19 - September 24 2023. Image courtesy of Jo Ho.
About SMU Libraries Artist-in-Residence (AiR) Programme
The Artist-in-Residence (AiR) Programme with SMU Libraries is developed in line with the Libraries’ strategic direction to cultivate connections and diverse learning experiences, and advance research. The AiR programme aims to support artistic research by providing time, space and resources, and to contribute to the cultural and intellectual life on campus, especially by inspiring curiosity and fostering critical thinking and creativity, through the resident’s interactions with the university community. Located in the arts and heritage district, the programme is well positioned to serve as an incubation hub supporting the city’s art ecology.