AI and Tech in the Hands of Artists
World Leaders in art and technology gather to discuss our future.
Symposium & Public Art Exhibition
Santa Barbara, CA October 7, 8 & 9th
Background: Nancy Baker Cahill, ‘Aftermath,’ projection-mapped sculpture, 2025
WE’RE IN THE NEWS
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CHANNEL KEYT NEWS: AI AND ART: Santa Barbara at the Crossroads of Imagination and Innovation
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INDEPENDENT: World Leaders in Art and Technology Gather in Santa Barbara to Discuss Our Future
SCHEDULE
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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7
HISTORIC MASONIC TEMPLE
3:15-3:30 PM. Opening Remarks
3:30-4:30 PM. Panel 1
Kevi Davis, Director, Amazon AI in conversation with Forest Stearns, Artist in Residence Google Quantum LabMUSEUM CONTEMPORARY ART S.B.
4:00-6:00 PM Welcome Reception
Premiere of Nancy Baker Cahill’s “Stone Spoeaks”
AR InstallationPRIVATE RESIDENCE
7:00 PM Private Reception
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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 8
HISTORIC MASONIC TEMPLE
10:00-11:30 AM Panel 2
Artists in the Exhibition present and discuss their work and collaboratioins with technologists11:30-1:00 PM Lunch
COMMUNITY ART WORKSHOP (CAW)
2:30-3:30 PM Exhibition Curated by the Brilll Foundation
VADA (SBHS)
2:00-2:45 PM Artist Presentation
Isabel Beavers, CoFounder of Supercollider.la, in an exciting interactive presentation of her work.THE ALLOSPHERE (UCSB)
2:30-4:30 PM Artist Performance
Every 20min (viewing limited to 15 guests per experience)
McCune Conference Room (UCSB)
3:00-4:00 PM Panel
Ana Briz, Curator and Co Director of the AD& A Museum guides a discussion on AI BiasSANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF ART
6:30-7:30 PM Lecture
James Glisson, Chief Curator, SBMA discusses the use of technoilogy in art over historySANTA BARBARA LIBRARY PLAZA
Sunset - 9:00 PM Projected Public Art Works
SULLIVAN GOSS GALLERY
7:00-10:00 PM Public Reception
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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9
HISTORIC MASONIC TEMPLE
10:00-11:00 AM Panel 3
Ken Kosik, Marcos Novak and Silvia Perea banter over “organoids,” the architecture of neurological networks and the presentation of historyS.B. CENTER FOR SCIENCE, ART & TECHNOLOGY
7:00-10:00 PM Closing Reception/ Open Studios
Programming: TUE 10.07
PLEASE NOTE THAT THAT ON CERTAIN CELL PHONES, THE PROGRAMMING INFORMATION DOES NOT VISUALLY LOOK CORRECT, IN WHICH CASE, PLEASE VISIT THE SITE VIA YOUR LAPTOP ;)
Tue. 10.07
3:15- 3:30pm
Historic Masonic Temple
16 E. Carrillo Blvd.
DOORS 2:15pm
Opening Remarks
Michael Delgado: EP, Brandwell Arts
3:30 -4:30pm
Historic Masonic Temple
16 E. Carrillo Blvd.
DOORS 2:15pm
PANEL
“The Human Element: Designing Empathy into the Machine Age”
> How do we ensure that the future of artificial intelligence remains rooted in human values, emotion, and connection? In this cross-disciplinary conversation, Kevin Davis (Director, Product Manager – Tech, Artificial General Intelligence – Information for Amazon) and Forest Stearns (artist-in-residence at Google’s Quantum AI Lab in Goleta) explore the quiet power of design, voice, and visual culture in shaping how we live with intelligent systems. While Davis works at the cutting edge of conversational AI, Stearns and his collaborators work shoulder to shoulder at the intersection of art and science in the Quantum AI campus. With a dynamic practice of epic scale illustration based productions, art direction and facilitation of the artist in residence program; his ongoing creative exchange brings inspiration, warmth and humanity into the built environment which would traditionally be stark and boring. Together, they ask: What does it mean to make machines — and the spaces around them — feel more human? <
Moderator: Michael Delgado, EP, Brandwell Arts
Kevin Davis, Director, Amazon Alexa AI
Forest Stearns, Artist in Residence, Google Quantum Lab
4:00-6:00pm
Museum of
Contemporary Art S.B.
Paseo Nuevo Arts Terrace
653 Paseo Nuevo
PUBLIC WELCOME
Welcoming Reception; AR Installation by Nancy Baker Cahill
Sponsored By Kunin Winery
7:00pm
Private Residence
Private Reception
> Join the artists, speakers, and fellow attendees for beverages while experiencing Baker Cahill’s special AR piece. MCASB’s companion exhibition featuring DJ Xavier will also be open.<
Invitation only: Artists, Speakers, Curators, Donors, Sponsors, and VIP ticket holders
Wed. 10.08
10:00-11:30am
Historic Masonic Temple
16 E. Carrillo St.
DOORS: 9:30am
Programming: WED. 10.08
PLEASE NOTE THAT THAT ON CERTAIN CELL PHONES, THE PROGRAMMING INFORMATION DOES NOT VISUALLY LOOK CORRECT, IN WHICH CASE, PLEASE VISIT THE SITE VIA YOUR LAPTOP ;)
1:00-5:30pm
2:30-3:30pm
Contemporary Art Workshop
(CAW)
631 Garden St.
HOURS: 10:00am-6:00pm
PUBLIC WELCOME
> This multimedia panel brings together four pioneering artist-speakers in a dynamic conversation about the new architectures of perception, connection, and meaning in our digitally entangled world. Through video, still imagery, and conversation, these artists will present their own deeply distinctive works that explore themes of embodiment, ecology, technology, and consciousness. They will also engage in dialogue around works by fellow Brave New Work artists Yuge Zhou, JoAnn Kuchera-Morin, Richelle Ellis Gribble, and the SuperCollider Collective, highlighting how this new generation of interdisciplinary practices collapses boundaries between science and art, virtual and real, data and sensation. Whether through biometric sensing, immersive environments, networked ecosystems, or poetic data visualizations, each artist brings a lens on how creative technology can shape more intuitive, interconnected, and reflective futures.
PANEL
“Signals & Systems: Artists Rewiring Perception in the Age of Intelligent Media”
Moderator: Alan Macy, Founder SBCAST, BIOPAC
Nancy Baker Cahill : Artist (Via Video)
Victoria Vesna: Artist, Director Art & Science Program (UCLA)
Beatie Wolfe: Musician, Artist (Via Video)
Lunch Break
11:30am-1:00pm
Area Restaurants
12:30 - 5:30pm
Breakout Opportunities
Transportation Between Venues / Walking Routes
> S.B. MTD routes are complimentary for all ticket holders. < No host shuttle cars are also available along a set route.< > Walking: Several of the venues are within a three-quarter-mile radius of each other in the downtown area. < > Shuttle service begins at noon.<
Companion Exhibition Curated by the Brill Family Foundation
EXHIBITION
“Symbiosis or Schism: The AI -Human Odyssey”
NOTE: THIS IS COMPANION PROGRAMING, CURATED AND PRODUCED INDEPENDENTLY BY THE BRILL FOUNDATION. THIS SHOW OPENS BEFORE BNW AND RUNS AFTER BNW ENDS. THERE IS A WELCOMING RECEPTION TO THIS SHOW AS DESCRIBED BELOW. WE HIGHLY ENCOURAGE YOU TO JOIN US THERE AND TO CATCH THE SHOW BEFORE IT CLOSES!
> "Symbiosis or Schism? The AI-Human Odyssey" is a group AI Art exhibition with an opening reception event on October 2nd from 5:30-8:30pm at the Community Arts Workshop in Santa Barbara. This exhibition invites you to witness a conversation between human imagination and artificial intelligence—a dialogue where art becomes the shared language. The opening event promises to be an exciting evening filled with music, keynote speakers, artist presentations, a grant award ceremony, and refreshments, as well as a first peak at the innovative and incredible work of all the artists involved. The gallery opening will be the kick-off to the Brave New Work Art and Tech Symposium and will also be included as a stop on the 1st Thursday Art Walk. The exhibition will be showing from October 2-12, 2025. <
2:00-2:45pm
VADA Campus (SBHS)
700 E. Anapamu St.
DOORS: 1:500pm
> JoAnn Kuchera-Morin performs excerpts of her groundbreaking concerto in which she uses quantum mechanics in the way that a composer writes a classic work for a traditional orchestra. < As a pioneer in musically and visual immersive experiences, now most recognized in the technologies employed at the Sphere in Las Vegas, Kuchera-Morin is the godmother of these artistic and scientific capabilities.<
Every 20min (viewing limited to 15 guests per experience)
The Allosphere
USCB Campus (See Map)
FIRST DOORS: 2:15pm
3:00-4:00pm
McCune Conference Room
(6020 HSSB) at the Humanities & Social Sciences Building,
UCSB Campus
DOORS: 2:30pm
“Encoded Gazes: Women of Color on Bias, Power, and Possibility in AI”
6:30-7:30pm
Santa Barbara Museum of Art Auditorium
1130 State St.
DOORS: 6pm
Sunset - 9:00pm
Santa Barbara Public
Library Plaza
40 E Anapamu St
ARTIST PRESENTATION
“In this hypothetical post human world…”
Isabel Beavers
> Artist Isabel Beavers discusses the murky relationship between humans, ai, and ecosystems. Through this interactive presentation, Beavers discusses a new project, Water Thief, exploring both the ecological impacts of emerging technologies and the artistic desire to work with new creative tools. Through this project, and their work with the LA Based arts collective, Supercollider, Beavers will examine their non-traditional career path and how endless curiosity can spark creative success.<
2:30 - 4:30pm
Artist Performance : Quantum Concerto in the Allosphere
JoAnn Kuchera-Morin
Moderator: Ana Briz: Curator, Art, Design & Architecture Museum
Haewon Jeong: Assistant Professor, Electric and Computer Engineering, UCSB
Kira Xonorika (Guarani): Artist
A Brief History of the Impossible
Ana Briz and her panel explore inherent bias in AI algorithms. Framed through the lens of women of color, this panel interrogates the inherited biases embedded in AI systems, from facial recognition and data training sets to the aesthetic tropes of generative art. Through visual works and critical reflection, the speakers explore how identity, mythology, queerness, and resistance can become tools for subverting dominant technological narratives.
7:00- 10:00pm
Sullivan Goss Gallery
11 E. Anapamu St.
(Across Anapamu from the Michael Towbes Library Plaza)
Public Reception
James Glisson: Chief Curator, Santa Barbara Museum of Art
> Glisson explores how historical artists anticipated AI in a fascinating look at art history through the lens of contemporary technologies. <
Art Works by Nancy Baker Cahill, Richelle Ellis/ SuperCollider.la, Victoria Vesna, Beatie Wolfe, and Yuge Zhou
> The Michael Towbes Library Plaza comes alive with stunning art works, produced with sophisticated technologies that focus on environmental, societal, and humanist themes in inspiring ways. <
Projected Public Art Works
Programming: THU. 10.09
Architectures of Perception: Immersion, Intelligence & the Shape of Conscious Futures
PLEASE NOTE THAT THAT ON CERTAIN CELL PHONES, THE PROGRAMMING INFORMATION DOES NOT VISUALLY LOOK CORRECT, IN WHICH CASE, PLEASE VISIT THE SITE VIA YOUR LAPTOP ;)
> This multidisciplinary panel explores how architectures — digital, biological, cultural, and material — shape consciousness and perception. From subatomic structures like brain organoids to immersive environments and tactile artworks made from reclaimed matter, the conversation interrogates how artistic and scientific practices are building new forms of embodied experience. Together, these speakers consider the spatial, ethical, and aesthetic frameworks that define how we feel, know, and connect in a changing world.
Moderator: Silvia Perea, Curator, Art, Design & Architecture Museum
Marcos Novak, Professor and Chair, Media Arts and Technology Program and Director, transLab (UCSB)
Dr. Ken Kosik, Harriman Professor of Neuroscience & Co-Director, Neuroscience Research Institute (UCSB)
Closing Party/Open Studios
7:00-10:00pm
S.B. Center for Art, Science and Technology (SBCAST)
513 Garden St.
PUBLIC WELCOME
> MAT Graduate Students open their studios, perform and showcase special installations.
10:00-11:00am
Historic Masonic Temple
16 E. Carrillo St.
DOORS: 9:30am