DIVERSEartLA Returns to the LA Art Show: Exploring the Intersection of Memory, Humanity, and AI

The LA Art Show is committed to presenting dynamic programming that raises awareness about important contemporary issues facing humanity. This year, we explore the intersection of memory, humanity, and artificial intelligence (AI).

Through its non-commercial platform, DIVERSEartLA, the show returns to the Los Angeles Convention Center from February 14–18. Since its inception in 2015 and under the curation of Marisa Caichiolo, DIVERSEartLA has fostered connections with local and international art institutions, sparking meaningful dialogue. The 2024 program, featuring solo projects from seven top international art institutions, dives deep into the nexus of memory, humanity, and AI. Caichiolo shares that the selected works challenge us to contemplate the myriad opportunities and dilemmas AI introduces, emphasizing the ethical considerations and social implications tied to utilizing AI as a mechanism for navigating memory and identity.

DIVERSEartLA will also present the second edition of the Museum Acquisition Award for an Emerging Artist - created by AAL Museum & AAL Magazine (Chile) - who will have the opportunity to be part of the Museum’s permanent collection. 

Following is a rundown of the exciting programs that will be part of DIVERSEartLA 2024 this week...

MAC — Museum of Contemporary Art, Bogotá
Project: Mythstories
Artist: Carlos Castro Arias
Curator: Gustavo Adolfo Ortiz Serrano
Booth 1362

The Museum of Contemporary Art (MAC) from Bogotá presents Mythstories by multimedia artist Carlos Castro Arias and curated by Gustavo Adolfo Ortiz Serrano. Appropriating the style and iconography of medieval tapestry, Castro uses anachronisms and the re-contextualization of found objects to create connections across times and cultures. His work experiments with myth, history, and AI, and explores individual and collective identity.

MUSA Museum of Art University of Guadalajara, Grodman Legacy and Guadalajara Foundation, Mexico
Project: Fake memory of a True past
Curator: Moises Schiaffino
Booth 1364

MUSA Museum of Art University of Guadalajara, Grodman Legacy and Guadalajara Foundation from Mexico presents Fake Memory of a True Past curated by Moises Schiaffino. This project seeks to create a reflection on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) as a tool to generate a historical archive. This video installation tells the same story from two different visions: the human and the artificial, making a visual comparison of the memory that the human being has preserved with the one that, through algorithms, the AI has generated.

AAL Museum – Santiago, Chile
Project: Be Water
Artist: Antuan
Curator: Marisa Caichiolo
Booth 1361

AAL Museum from Santiago, Chile presents a visual narrative, Be Water led by the esteemed contemporary artist, Antuan. The immersive installation explores the significance of this vital element with Antuan’s creation of the Human Net, a human geometric structure, symbolizing the symmetry of the universe. The characters within represent humanity’s urgent need to address the global water crisis, highlighting the essential collaboration between humanity and AI to create a new network of human consciousness.

Lancaster Museum of Art and History (MOAH)
Project: Repairing the Future
Artist: Osceola Refetoff
Curator: Andi Campognone
Booth 1366

Lancaster Museum of Art and History (MOAH) is proud to present Osceola Refetoff: Repairing the Future, a multi-media exhibition focusing on global sea level rise. The centerpiece of the installation is a large-scale immersive audio-visual projection of the artist’s 8-minute film Sea of Change shot by Refetoff in Svalbard, Norway, near the North Pole.

These visuals are paired with NASA satellite images while AI-generated animation envisions possible future climate outcomes. The original soundtrack is written and performed by award-winning composer Paul Cantelon. The exhibition will be accompanied by a performance from Hibiscus TV artists Kaye Freeman and Amy Kaps on February 17.

Red Line Contemporary Art Center, Denver, Colorado
Project: Entropic Systems
Artist: Laleh Mehran
Curator: Louise Martorano
Booth 1363

Red Line Contemporary Art Center from Denver, Colorado presents Laleh Mehran's Entropic Systems, an immersive installation that considers the politicization of ideologies. In this work, a drawing machine inscribes a sort of memory into the mineral bed, much like a rudimentary hard drive. Each day the past is erased, but at the same time, the grains will never sit the same again, containing remains of history much in the way that AI is trained with billions of words and yet “remembers” none of them.

Project: Threaded Tracing
Artist: Chris Coleman
Curator: Louise Martorano
Booth 1363

Threaded Tracing uses current computer vision technology (LiDAR) to encode natural and human made spaces into digital memory. Made during visits to forests and airports across the US, it plays with the idea of how we remember time and space vs how computers try to represent and process it. As we feed more and more of our lives into AI systems, we must continue to ask what is lost in translation. Music by George Cicci.

Raubtier & Unicus Productions, Los Angeles
Project: Bridging Emotional and Digital Landscapes
Artist: Raubtier & Unicos Production
Curator: Marisa Caichiolo
Booth 1365

Raubtier & Unicus Productions (Los Angeles) presents Bridging Emotional and Digital Landscapes, exploring the intersection of human emotion and advanced technology to create a digital mural of individual and collective experiences. The audience engages with a touchscreen interface to input words or phrases that resonate with their memories. Through the utilization of AI-driven word-to-image conversion, tangible printing, and large-scale projections, the evolving correlation between personal memories and their emotional and physical manifestations is revealed. 

Source: LA Art Show