FEMG3N: Expanding the Art World with New Digital Practices

For this special FEMGEN event, join artists Licia He and Anna Ridler in conversation with writer and academic Charlotte Kent, hear Peter Bauman, editor-in-chief of Le Random speak about the important contributions women have made in the realm of generative art, and learn how the V&A is engaging in these narratives with curator Melanie Lenz.

 

FEMGEN was established in 2022 by Micol Apruzzese and Alex Estorick as an exhibition and series of curated conversations celebrating female-identifying and nonbinary artists working with generative systems. Born in the pursuit of a new art world that fosters diversity, openness, and greater access, FEMGEN is dedicated to cultivating a more inclusive ecosystem for artists. For this 3rd edition of the talks, FEMGEN brings that conversation to the V&A by celebrating new generative practices in the home of one of the world’s leading collections of computer art.

 

Speakers:

Peter Bauman (Monk Antony) is the editor-in-chief of Le Random, overseeing its editorials. He is the author of the Generative Art Timeline and hosts Le Random’s podcast, where he arranges discussions with leading voices in new media art.

 

Dr. Shiqing (Licia) He is a generative artist and human-computer interaction researcher who employs an expressive visual language alongside technological innovations to communicate emotion and experiences. Focused on the connections between art and technology, she has published on data visualisation, human-machine interaction, and creativity support tools. She founded the Generative Craft Lab at the College of Performance, Visualization and Fine Art of Texas A&M University, and her artworks have been exhibited and collected worldwide.

 

Charlotte Kent is an arts writer and Associate Professor of Visual Culture at Montclair State University. She specializes in contemporary art, digital culture and emergent technologies, and serves as Editor-at-Large with a monthly column on Art & Technology for The Brooklyn Rail. Most recently with Katherine Guinness she has co-edited Contemporary Absurdities, Existential Crises, and Visual Art (2024, Intellect Books).

 

Melanie Lenz is the Curator of Digital Art at the V&A where she is responsible for developing the museum’s digital art collection. Most recently she co-curated the V&A display Patric Prince: Digital Art Visionary and co-edited Digital Art: 1960–Now (2024, V&A/Thames & Hudson). Melanie has also published papers on generative art and gender, art and technology.

 

Anna Ridler is an artist and researcher who works with systems of knowledge and how technologies are created to better understand the world. She is interested in ideas around measurement and quantification and how this relates to the natural world. Her work has been exhibited at cultural institutions worldwide including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Barbican Centre, Centre Pompidou, HeK Basel, ZKM Karlsruhe, Ars Electronica, Sheffield Documentary Festival and the Leverhulme Centre for Future Intelligence.

 

Part of the V&A’s inaugural Digital Art Season which runs until 30 November 2024, and addresses questions of technology, creativity and digital culture.