Tate and University of the Arts London’s Decolonising Arts and Creative Computing Institutes are excited to announce a two-day conference at Tate Modern on Wednesday 2 October 2024 and Thursday 3 October 2024. This will be part of a week-long public programme celebrating the culmination of a major research project, Transforming Collections: Reimagining Art, Nation and Heritage.
Over the past 3 years, this major AHRC-funded project has combined historical and museological research with creative computing and machine learning to surface suppressed histories in collections and amplify marginalised voices. At its core, the project has been underpinned by the belief that a ‘national collection’ cannot be imagined without addressing structural inequalities and systemic biases in the arts.
The Museum x Machine x Me conference will examine some of the longstanding and new challenges facing museums; the accelerating risks – and potential – of machine learning in the work of transforming collections; and the critical and creative interventions that can help us to reimagine art, nation and heritage. Tickets are available now via Tate’s website.
The conference will open with a keynote conversation between artist and Professor Stephanie Dinkins and Professor Roopika Risam, followed by four themed sessions across two days. These aim to share some of the practice research, insights and findings generated by the project, through discussions on ‘What museums “want”?’, ‘Giving, Keeping, Caring and Giving Back’, ‘Looking, Listening, Reading and Writing Otherwise’ and ‘Re/voicing, Re/sounding, Rejoicing Collections’.
An array of other public events and activities will take place from 30 September to 6 October at Tate Modern and Tate Britain, including artist displays and thought-provoking talks, a special Tate Late evening with performances at Tate Britain, and opportunities to get hands-on with the project’s machine learning tool throughout the week. This programme will invite visitors to engage with the research, artworks and software that have been developed throughout the project, exploring how technology can help challenge, complicate and enrich existing collections data.
“We’re thrilled to be collaborating on this ambitious public programme, and excited to share some of the critical and creative ideas, interventions and developments that have emerged through the Transforming Collections project. How can ‘we’ usefully, seriously, playfully and ethically make or remake the ‘museum’ and ‘machine’ – to better reflect ‘us’, as individuals, in all our histories and futures?” – susan pui san lok, Principal Investigator and Director, Decolonising Arts Institute UAL
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