Guest of Honor: Sougwen Chung
Biography
Sougwen 愫君 Chung is a Chinese-Canadian artist and researcher, widely considered a pioneer in the field of human-machine collaboration – exploring the mark-made-by-hand and the mark-made-by-machine as an approach to understanding the dynamics of humans and systems. Sougwen’s work MEMORY (Drawing Operations Unit: Generation 2) is part of the permanent collection of the Victoria and Albert museum, and is the first AI model to be collected by a major institution. Recently, Chung was recognized as a Cultural Leader at the World Economic Forum, one of four recipients of the TIME100 Impact award, and named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in AI.
Chung has exhibited internationally at the Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Espoo; Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver; Art Basel, Miami; National Art Center, Tokyo; NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC], Tokyo, Japan; ArtScience Museum, Singapore; MIT Media Lab, Cambridge; The Drawing Center, New York; The New Museum, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Geneva; Mana Contemporary, New York, Tribeca Film Festival, New York; The Hospital Club, London; Mutek Festival, Montreal & Mexico City; Sonar Festival, Barcelona. Chung’s work has been featured in publications including Art F City, Artnet, Artplugged, Artsy, Business Insider, Dazed and Confused, Engadget, EXIT Magazine, Fast Company, Forbes, Irish Times, MASHABLE, Noema Magazine, Seattle Times, Superrare, The Creators Project, The Jakarta Post, The New Yorker, USA Today, Washington Post, and Wired.
A former TED Speaker and researcher at MIT Media Lab, Chung has spoken at international conferences including the United Nations, Geneva; World Economic Forum, China; Oxford University; SIGGRAPH Conference, Vancouver; Global Art Forum, Singapore; World Science Festival, New York; Cannes Lions, Cannes; WSJ’s Future of Everything Conference, New York; Tribeca Film Festival Interactive, New York; House of Beautiful Business, Lisbon; OFFF, Barcelona; FITC, Tokyo; Internet Dargana, Stockholm; SXSW, Austin; The Art Directors Club, New York.
Chung has been selected for excellence in the Arts & Sciences as Woman of the Year in Monaco, received the Lumen Prize for Art in Technology, was an inaugural E.A.T. Artist in Residence in partnership with New Museum and Bell Labs, was awarded a commission for project Omnia per Omnia, was the Japan Media Arts recipient of the Excellence Award for Drawing Operations, and was selected as one of the Top 20 New Visual Artists by Print Magazine. Additionally, Sougwen Chung has been awarded Artist in Residence positions at Google, Studio Wayne McGregor, Laurenz Haus Basel, Eyebeam, Japan Media Arts, and Pier 9 Autodesk.
Chung is the founder of SCILICET, an experimental studio based in London.