The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, in collaboration with South Korean company LG, has named Brooklyn-based artist Stephanie Dinkins as the recipient of the first LG Guggenheim Award, a new award that celebrates artists working at the intersection of art and technology. Dinkins will receive an unlimited honorarium of $100,000 to help expand the reach of his groundbreaking work.
Dinkins, whose career spans 20 years of groundbreaking research and investigation into the social ramifications of artificial intelligence (AI), was selected by a jury of experts in the field of art and technology, including Legacy Russell, executive director and chief curator of the Kitchen in New York, and Tina Rivers Ryan, curator of the Buffalo AKG Art Museum in Buffalo, New York. In a statement, the jury commended Dinkins for his “inclusive and collaborative approach” which “strongly advocates for transparency, participation and access to AI technologies, especially among communities most at risk of being abused by them”.
Stephanie Dinkins, recipient of the LG Guggenheim Award The Guggenheim
Dinkins has made a name for himself with immersive and participatory work that takes an optimistic view of AI models and their embedded tools, especially natural language processing (NLP), machine learning (ML) and machine learning. in-depth (DL), the method by which computers mimic human processes. Dinkins’ restorative and communal attitude to technology has resulted in long-running experiments centered on poetics and storytelling, addressing demographic groups typically marginalized by poor code design and technological inaccessibility. Currently a professor of art at Stony Brook University in New York, Dinkins’ work has been exhibited at institutions around the world, including the Smithsonian Museum of Arts and Industry in Washington DC, the Espoo Museum of Modern Art in Finland, and the ZKM Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe, Germany.
“Stephanie Dinkins’ artistic range, her commitment to socio-cultural values, and her cutting-edge explorations in AI are crucial reflections of the future evolution of technology-based art. It is an honor for the Guggenheim to support his extraordinary work through this award,” said Naomi Beckwith, Deputy Director and Chief Curator of the Guggenheim, in a statement.
The honorarium will be accompanied by a physical prize “whose sculptural form represents the potential of technology to inspire new and unexpected art forms,” explained Seol Park, head of brand management at LG Corp.
The LG Guggenheim Prize is an extension of the LG Guggenheim Art and Technology Initiative, a five-year project co-authored by the Guggenheim and LG to honour, seek out and promote artists who combine technology and art in their works. The partnership provides the Guggenheim with an unprecedented opportunity to deepen its knowledge in a timely area by providing direct support to artists. The museum recently hired its first associate curator from LG Electronics, Noam Segal, who plays an active role in the latest expansion.
