A Well-trained Eye
Macarena Ruiz–Tagle, Cyanometer Postcard, 2012. Offset print on recycled paper. 4.1 × 5.8 in (10.5 × 14.8 cm). Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Franziska Strauss
The possibilities, limitations, and responsibilities that come with instructing both humans and computers how to see stand at the core of A Well-trained Eye. The exhibition features works by thirteen artists who explore issues such as surveillance, classification, and categorical thinking in relation to AI technologies, looking closely at the biases that underlie data collection and analysis. Encompassing different media—drawing, watercolor, photography, video, and installation—the artworks assembled here examine how human and computer vision are inextricably linked. Although much of the current discourse concerning AI systems tends to polarize the debate, falling into either an alarmist or technophilic position, the artists in A Well-trained Eye advance a more nuanced view of our relationship with these technologies and how we might find a path to developing AI guided by environmental, social and ethical considerations.
What does our training of computer vision models say about the way we perceive the world and about the future we imagine? How are these developments impacting the expectations and interactions we have with our bodies and those of others? By establishing a parallel between training algorithms and the human process of learning to see, A Well-trained Eye reflects on how the developers of artificial intelligence have ingrained their worldviews in their creations, including certain principles, associations and aesthetic preferences. At a pressing time when machine learning applications are reconfiguring not just the economy but also how we value education, labor, privacy, and the quality of our interpersonal relationships, this exhibition thinks critically about the categories and value systems currently driving these new technologies, inviting us to unlearn some of our own ways of seeing.
Un ojo bien entrenado
Las posibilidades, limitaciones y responsabilidades que implica enseñarle a ver tanto a los seres humanos como a las computadoras son el núcleo de Un ojo bien entrenado. La exposición presenta la obra de trece artistas que exploran temas como la vigilancia, la clasificación y el pensamiento categórico vinculados con las tecnologías de inteligencia artificial, analizando los sesgos que involucra la recopilación y el análisis de datos. Abarcando diferentes medios—dibujo, acuarela, fotografía, video e instalación—las obras aquí reunidas examinan cómo la visión humana y la visión artificial se encuentran íntimamente ligadas. Aunque gran parte de la discusión actual respecto a los sistemas de IA tiende a polarizar el debate, cayendo en una postura alarmista o tecnófila, les artistas de Un ojo bien entrenado despliegan un panorama más matizado de nuestra relación con la tecnología, esbozando un camino para desarrollar herramientas de IA guiadas por consideraciones ambientales, sociales y éticas.
¿Qué dice nuestra forma de entrenar modelos de visión artificial sobre la manera en que percibimos el mundo y sobre el futuro que imaginamos? ¿Cómo impactan estos desarrollos en las expectativas e interacciones que tenemos con nuestros cuerpos y los de otras personas? Al establecer un paralelismo entre aprender a ver y cómo se enseña actualmente a los sistemas de IA a reconocer y encontrar patrones, Un ojo bien entrenado examina cómo las personas que desarrollan la inteligencia artificial han arraigado sus visiones del mundo en estas creaciones, incluyendo ciertos principios, asociaciones y preferencias estéticas. En un momento clave en el que las herramientas de aprendizaje automático están reconfigurando no solo la economía, sino también la forma en que valoramos la educación, el trabajo, la privacidad y la calidad de nuestras interacciones, la exposición invita a una reflexión crítica sobre los sistemas de valores que actualmente impulsan estas nuevas tecnologías, incitándonos a desaprender algunas de nuestras propias formas de ver.
A Well-trained Eye is organized by Maria Emilia Fernandez, former assistant curator.
Lead support for A Well-trained Eye provided provided by the Jedel Family Foundation and the Carl and Marilynn Thoma Foundation.
Additional support provided by Suzanne Deal Booth, Kathleen and Chris Loughlin, and Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Public programming for A Well-trained Eye supported, in part, by Good Systems, a research grand challenge at UT Austin.
A Well-trained Eye, installation view, Visual Arts Center, The University of Texas at Austin, September 22, 2023 – March 2, 2024. Photo: Alex Boeschenstein.
A Well-trained Eye, installation view, Visual Arts Center, The University of Texas at Austin, September 22, 2023 – March 2, 2024. Photo: Alex Boeschenstein.
A Well-trained Eye, installation view, Visual Arts Center, The University of Texas at Austin, September 22, 2023 – March 2, 2024. Photo: Alex Boeschenstein.
A Well-trained Eye, installation view, Visual Arts Center, The University of Texas at Austin, September 22, 2023 – March 2, 2024. Photo: Alex Boeschenstein.
A Well-trained Eye, installation view, Visual Arts Center, The University of Texas at Austin, September 22, 2023 – March 2, 2024. Photo: Alex Boeschenstein.
A Well-trained Eye, installation view, Visual Arts Center, The University of Texas at Austin, September 22, 2023 – March 2, 2024. Photo: Alex Boeschenstein.
A Well-trained Eye, installation view, Visual Arts Center, The University of Texas at Austin, September 22, 2023 – March 2, 2024. Photo: Alex Boeschenstein.
A Well-trained Eye, installation view, Visual Arts Center, The University of Texas at Austin, September 22, 2023 – March 2, 2024. Photo: Alex Boeschenstein.
A Well-trained Eye, installation view, Visual Arts Center, The University of Texas at Austin, September 22, 2023 – March 2, 2024. Photo: Alex Boeschenstein.
A Well-trained Eye, installation view, Visual Arts Center, The University of Texas at Austin, September 22, 2023 – March 2, 2024. Photo: Alex Boeschenstein.
A Well-trained Eye, installation view, Visual Arts Center, The University of Texas at Austin, September 22, 2023 – March 2, 2024. Photo: Alex Boeschenstein.
A Well-trained Eye, installation view, Visual Arts Center, The University of Texas at Austin, September 22, 2023 – March 2, 2024. Photo: Alex Boeschenstein.
