Intelligent Terrain—AI, Ecology, Arts, and Cultural Production

Intelligent Terrain—AI, Ecology, Climate Response, in the Arts and Cultural Production

In Western thought, the natural world is frequently understood as an object amenable to division and classification. In doing so, it is made useful and legible to those that might profit.

The 2024 iteration of Intelligent Terrain is an effort to be curious about this work of drawing lines that demarcate ownership, resources, personhood, sentience, and what deserves the title “intelligent.”

Artificial intelligence represents a leap in our ability to sort, categorize, and choose from the world around us. AI prioritizes division and abstraction rather than embodiment and wholeness by design. This accelerating ability to measure, quantify, and objectify set the backdrop for “nature” to continue serving as a resource to draw from, as a thing to be owned, or as a pristine ideal to which we might escape.

If we hope to respond to ecological despair and widespread climate harm, we will need to re-evaluate the boundaries we draw through the natural world. Intelligent Terrain is interested in diaspora, migration, and the act of traversing arbitrary borders. We are looking into the moral dilemmas posed by animals and plant species that are "not supposed to be here," but have nonetheless made a home for themselves and others. We are investigating the resources, tools, and technologies of contemporary media art practice and its entanglement with histories of violence. We are unsure if tools and techniques developed in service to extraction and exploitation can be turned over to other values, such as care and mutualism.

This event invites artists, arts professionals, cultural producers, and the public to explore AI’s relationship with the ecological. We will also share the prototypes developed during the collaborative research to enrich what meaningful engagement with AI, ecology, and climate in the arts and cultural production may look like.

Intelligent Terrain is developed in partnership with Ferme Lanthorn, a regenerative agriculture experiment and artist studio in Wakefield with support from Place-des-Artistes de Farrellton. This project is funded by Canada Council for the Arts.

The pay-what-you-can option:

This event is free to attend. However, we encourage you to consider the PWYC ($5, $10, $25) option. The amount you pay directly contributes to our Local Disturbances programming and mutual aid efforts.

In ecology, a “local disturbance” refers to a disruption in a specific area that can spill out into broader infrastructure, environments, and/or communities. At UKAI Projects, Local Disturbances include media production, workshops, talks, parties, publications, and field recordings that are constrained in time and space but that are designed to disturb broader systems.

Proceeds from our Local Disturbances work goes toward mutual aid and other support. For 2024, we are helping Afghan journalists and writers whose lives are at risk as a result of their work criticizing the Taliban. Many have fled to Pakistan but now face forced return and their lives are at risk. Some European countries are offering visas to journalists and UKAI is supporting finances for travel and logistics. So far, ticket and merchandise sales have supported two families to find their way to France and we will continue to support those in need.