Collaborating with Machines

Upcoming Exhibition
18 January 2026
Performer in octopus-like costume holding bread on stage under pink lighting during electronic music performance.
Performer in octopus-like costume holding bread on stage under pink lighting during electronic music performance.

How can artists be friends with machines?

When

18 January 2026

3:00pm to 7:00pm

Access

While the threats and risks associated with the rise of AI to contemporary art are serious and a full discussion is warranted, are there alternative - potentially more generative - ways of thinking through our artistic entanglement with algorithms? What might a conscious systems engagement look, sound and feel like for artists (and audiences)? 

This event brings together artists and musicians who explore these and other questions involved in exploring non-self agencies and/or collaborating artistically with machines. The day will begin with granular synthesis demonstrations, include a talk and open discussion about artists working with machines, and conclude with (somewhat) musical electronic performances involving technological collaborations.

Feature Image: Tara Pattenden, 'Phantom Chips' (2023), Papiripar Festival. Photography by Claudia Höhne.

“Technology is not neutral. We're inside of what we make, and it's inside of us. We're living in a world of connections - and it matters which ones get made and unmade.” – Donna Haraway

Contributors

Stephen Atkinson,
Phantom Chips (Tara Pattendom),
John Ferguson,
Alex Grant,
Tara Pattendom,
Bedlam Rigney,
Marian Sandberg,
Granulator synthesiser workshop participants from Cultivating Electronic Music in Regional Australia (ARC research project)

Program

Stephen Atkinson

Live improvisational performance with discarded mechanical and electronic devices.

Phantom Chips (Tara Pattendom)

Live electronic performance using wearable sound and custom-built electronic circuits.

John Ferguson

Talk on imagined agency and the role of resistance and inertia in performing technologies.

Alex Grant

Talk exploring anthroponormativity, machine cognition and the decentring of human authorship in contemporary art.

Tara Pattendom

Talk on how AI, generative learning and custom-built technologies can enable access and active creative participation for people with disabilities.

Bedlam Rigney

Marian Sandberg

Talk reflecting on shared creative agency with non-human systems, including working with machines as tools, collaborators and authors.

Granulator synthesiser workshop participants (Cultivating Electronic Music in Regional Australia, ARC research project)

Demonstrations of newly built granulator synthesiser instruments.

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ACErlu tampinthi, ngadlu Kaurna yartangka inparrinthi. Kaurna miyurna yaitya yarta-mathanya Wama Tarntanyaku. Parnaku yailtya, parnaku tapa purruna, parnaku yarta ngadlurlu tampinthi. Yalaka Kaurna miyurna itu yailtya, tapa purruna, yarta kuma puru martinthi, puru warri-apinthi, puru tangka martulayinthi. Ngadlurlu tampinthi purkana pukinangku, yalaka.

ACE respectfully acknowledges the Kaurna people are the traditional custodians of the Adelaide Plains. We recognise and respect their cultural heritage, beliefs and relationship with the land. We acknowledge that they are of continuing importance to the Kaurna people living today. We acknowledge Elders past and present.

ACErlu tampinthi, ngadlu Kaurna yartangka inparrinthi. Kaurna miyurna yaitya yarta-mathanya Wama Tarntanyaku. Parnaku yailtya, parnaku tapa purruna, parnaku yarta ngadlurlu tampinthi. Yalaka Kaurna miyurna itu yailtya, tapa purruna, yarta kuma puru martinthi, puru warri-apinthi, puru tangka martulayinthi. Ngadlurlu tampinthi purkana pukinangku, yalaka.

ACE respectfully acknowledges the Kaurna people are the traditional custodians of the Adelaide Plains. We recognise and respect their cultural heritage, beliefs and relationship with the land. We acknowledge that they are of continuing importance to the Kaurna people living today. We acknowledge Elders past and present.

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