Taken by Artificial Surprise

Magic meets machine learning in this installation and performance series by
Jeanette Andrews at Culture Lab LIC

On View: Thursday, July 28 - Sunday, July 31, 2022
Performances: 7:30 pm (Approximately 20-30 minutes)
COST: Free (reservation required)
RESERVATION: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/taken-by-artificial-surprise-tickets-340798446327
LOCATION: CultureLAB LIC: 5-25 46th Avenue, Long Island City, New York, NY 11101

Jeanette Andrews presents a performance and installation series exploring the relationships between magic, machine learning, and surprise. It welcomes attendees to step inside a thought experiment – a Turing Test of sorts. The performance aspect of this work highlights historic pieces of magic presented alongside algorithmically generated magic with varying levels of surprise, and participants might find themselves a bit unsure as to which may be which.

In 1950, pioneering mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing wrote the seminal paper, "Computing Machinery and Intelligence." He drew inspiration from Victorian-era parlor games to imagine his own parlor-style amusement, the imitation game. This inspired the now-famous Turing Test and utilized the question, "can a machine take us by surprise?" as a way to investigate artificial / computational intelligence. Taken by Artificial Surprise explores historic parlor magic to examine hierarchies of surprise and the human creation of surprise as compared and contrasted to that of machines. What might performances of the seemingly impossible demonstrate about the capabilities and limitations of both machine learning and the human mind? Andrews invites participants to think about what constitutes the experience of surprise itself and whether surprise is a unique, defining factor of human consciousness. The work also highlights how the mechanisms to create surprise lie deep within the gaps of lived and learned experience and are perhaps made using the ontological commitments and sense data of robust personal and cultural experiences. The work may also provoke questions as to whether a computer or a human is capable of producing more surprising results. Andrews also notes that, “this project was inspired by my time as an Affiliate at metaLAB (at) Harvard. During this time I was fortunate to have encountered a diversity of ideas and research, and discourse with metaLAB members also greatly assisted the ideation process.” This work is made possible by Franklin Furnace Archive, Inc. and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.

The Artist:
Jeanette Andrews (1990) is a New York City-based artist, magician, and researcher. Andrews’s work focuses on the development of interactive magic and sensory illusions via performance, sculpture, installation, and audio. Over 27 years of specialized study and technical training in parlor and sleight-of-hand magic has now afforded her a distinct perspective on crafting experiences with nuanced, surreal visuals and on designing objects that function completely differently than they appear. Her research-based process centers around phenomenological philosophy, contemporary cognitive science, and physics. Work is rooted in highlighting astonishing aspects of everyday life via moments of the seemingly impossible. Themes have included invisibility, impossible objects, the relationship between scent and magic, unseen communication, and how illusions can construct reality. Andrews works closely with museums and galleries to recontextualize magic within the cultural arts and explore this craft as a performance art medium. She has presented numerous commissioned works with the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, including her 2020 work “Invisible Museums of the Unseen,” which was later commissioned as a site-specific work for the Quebec City Biennial. Further site-specific works for numerous museums and galleries include the Elmhurst Art Museum, Birmingham Museum of Art and International Museum of Surgical Science. Andrews is also an acclaimed speaker, presenting with the Cooper Hewitt, Chicago Ideas Week, Fortune 500 companies, and universities and conferences across the country. She is an artist-in-residence for CultureLab LIC and has held residencies at High Concept Labs in Chicago and The Institute for Art and Olfaction in Los Angeles. She is an Affiliate of metaLAB (at) Harvard. Illusion is Andrews’s life’s work and her performances have been praised by the Chicago Tribune, PBS, and the New York Times.

JeanetteAndrewsStudio.com
@JeanetteAndrewsMagic

About Culture Lab LIC
Culture Lab LIC is a 501(c)(3) formed to bring accessible, high quality art of all genres to our community, and to support local artists by providing rehearsal, performance, exhibition space, as well as a robust residency program. CL is dedicated to upholding, equity, diversity and inclusion across all our platforms.
Operating out of a 12,000 square foot art center, Culture Lab LIC hosts two fine art galleries, a 90 seat theatre, classroom space, and an 18,000 square foot outdoor venue, made possible by the generous donation of space from Plaxall Inc. CL is honored to host more arts programming than any other organization in New York City. Culture Lab is more than a venue, it is the heart of Long Island City.
A very special thanks to Plaxall Inc. for the donation of this amazing space and supporting us in turning it into this cornerstone of arts and community activity!
@culturelablic
https://www.culturelablic.org/

This project was also made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrant program, a program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature and administered by Flushing Town Hall.