Jake Elwes (b.1993) is a media artist living and working in London. They studied at The Slade School
of Fine Art, UCL (2013-17). Searching for poetry and narrative in the success and failures of AI
systems, Jake Elwes investigates the aesthetics and ethics inherent to AI. Elwes’ practice makes use
of the sophistication of machine learning, while finding illuminating qualities in its limitations.
Across projects that encompass moving-image installation, sound and performance, Elwes seeks to
queer datasets, demystifying and subverting predominantly cisgender and straight AI systems. While
it may seem like the AI is a creative collaborator, Elwes is careful to point out that the AI has
neither intentionality or agency; it is a neutral agent existing within a human framework.
Jake's work has been exhibited in museums and galleries internationally, including the ZKM,
Karlsruhe, Germany; TANK Museum, Shanghai; Today Art Museum, Beijing; CyFest, Venice; Edinburgh
Futures Institute, UK; Zabludowicz Collection, London; Frankfurter Kunstverein, Germany; New
Contemporaries 2017, UK; Ars Electronica, Austria; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; LABoral
Centro, Spain; Nature Morte, Delhi, India; RMIT Gallery, Australia; Centre for the Future of
Intelligence, UK and they have been featured on TV: ZDF aspekte (Germany) and the BBC Arts (UK).
Currently represented in Europe, Middle East & Asia by:
Gazelli Art
House, 39
Dover Street, Mayfair, London
+44 207 491 8816
Sales Enquiries | info@gazelliarthouse.com
Other Enquiries | Artist Email
Born 1993, London UK.
Slade School of Fine Art (UCL), BA (Hons) - Fine Art, 2013 - 2017
School of the Art Institute Chicago, International Exchange - Art &
Technology, 2015
Central St Martins (UAL), Foundation, 2012 - 2013
Gazelli Art House, 39 Dover Street, London, 2021 - present
The Artist Development Agency, Steve Fletcher (formally Carroll / Fletcher Gallery,
London), 2017 - 2019
Visiting Lecturer, Slade School of Fine Art (UCL), 2021 - present
27th Oct 2022 - 19th Feb 2023 - The Horror Show!
A Twisted Tale Of Modern Britain,
Somerset House, London, UK
22nd Dec 2022 - 23rd June 2023 - Brains. When matter becomes
mind,
Fundacion Telefonica Museum, Madrid, Spain
12th - 15th Jan 2023 - New/Now,
Art SG, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore
2023 - 2024 - Solo Display / Commission TBA,
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
2022
The Book of Sand,
Aiiiii Art Center (2021-2022), Shanghai, China
»Biomedia«,
ZKM | Center for Art and Media (2021-2022), Karlsruhe, Germany
Among the
Machines, Zabludowicz Collection, London, UK
House
of Mirrors: Artificial Intelligence as Phantasm, HMKV (Hartware
MedienKunstVerein), Dortmund, Germany
»Biomedia«
(tour), Centre des Arts d'Enghien-les-Bains, Enghien-les-Bains / Paris,
France
Art in Flux: Transformations,
National Gallery X, London, UK
Creative Machine: An Interrogation of AI Creativity,
Goldsmiths University, London, UK
Prix Ars Electronica: Interactive Art +,
CyberArts Exhibtion, Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria
The Zizi Show,
GETXOPHOTO International Image Festival, Getxo, Basque Country, Spain
Canary in the
Synthetisphere
, Forking Room, Ujeongguk, Seoul, South Korea
2021
Latent Space at 120
Fencurch Street,
Sculpture in the City (2021-2022), City of London’s
annual programme of public artworks, UK
BIAS,
Science Gallery Dublin (2021-2022), Dublin, Ireland
Future U: Body /
Mind / Machine,
RMIT Gallery (2021-2022), Melbourne, Australia
Rehearsing the Future:
Dance with Nonhuman, ALIEN
Art Centre, Taiwan
You and AI (touring),
Onassis Foundation and Future Everything, Gazometro Rome, Italy
Critical Borders:
Radical (Re)visiions of AI, Center for the Future of Intelligence,
Cambridge University, UK
You
and AI, Onassis Foundation, Pedion tou Areos Park, Athens
The Third Gender,
A.K.T, Pforzheim, Germany
Zizi
- Queering the Dataset, Gazelli Art
House, Mayfair, London
Art for the Future,
Multimedia Art Museum,
Moscow (MAMM), Russia
Hendrick's
NFT Launch, Saatchi Gallery, Chelsea, London
International Conference
on Computational Creativity Exhibiton, ICCC, Mexico City, Mexico
Hardware almost feels real
(virtual), KI-Camp
2021, BMBF & GI, The Real Office, Germany.
Opening
Deeep Prequel, Lebenson Gallery,
Shoreditch, London
Lying Sophia and
Mocking Alexa, Yuz Museum, Shanghai, China
2020
AI for Good: Visions of a
sustainable future with AI (virtual, COVID-19), United Nations, ITU & STATE,
Geneva
Real-Time
Contraints (virtual browser extension, COVID-19), Arebyte Gallery, London, UK
Fluid
Bodies, E-WERK Freiburg, Germany
FLUX Gender*uck at
National Gallery X (virtual, COVID-19), The National Gallery, London
Deus Ex
Machina, LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial, Gijón, Spain
Writing the
History of the Future, ZKM | Center for Art and Media (2019-2022), Karlsruhe,
Germany
Future
U: Body / Mind / Machine, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2019
Forschungsfall Nachtigall, Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin (Natural History
Museum), Germany
Mind the Deep - Artificial
Intelligence and Artistic Creation, Ming Contemporary Art Museum (McaM),
Shanghai, China
Future Intelligence,
TANK Museum, Shanghai, China
Schaulust, Photoforum
Pasquart, Biel, Switzerland
Taiwan
Annual '19, Taipei Flora EXPO Dome, Taipei City, Taiwan
Learning
Nature: A machine's exploration of our world, The Jam Factory, Oxford
Future of
Today: DEJA VU, Today Art Museum 今日美术馆, Beijing, China
PRETERNATURAL: an
exhibtion of works by Jake Elwes, Data Lates | Inspace Gallery, Edinburgh
Lying Sophia and Mocking Alexa,
Hyundai Motorstudio Beijing, Beijing, China
Zabludowicz Collection | Invites (solo display), Zabludowicz Collection, London,
UK
Event Two,
(50th anniversary of the landmark Computer Arts Society Event One) - curated by Flux, RCA,
Lumen & EVA, Royal College of Art, London
ID.
ART:TECH | CYFEST-12 (during Venice Biennale), Ca’ Foscari Zattere, Venice,
Italy
Cartographies, Ugly
Duck, London
stadtprojektionen
III, St. Gallen, Switerland
2018
Open Codes - Living in Digital
Worlds (2018-19), ZKM | Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany
The Creative Machine 2
(Cyland & Goldsmiths), Hatcham Church Gallery, Goldsmiths University of London
Digital Bodies,
'and what?' - Queer Arts Festival 2018, Candid Arts Trust, London
City Screen,
Loop Barcelona 2018, Barcelona
Print Screen
Festival, Holon, Israel
Digital Design
Weekend, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
Uncommon Natures
(Lumen Art Prize), Brighton Digital Festival, Phoenix Theatre, Brighton, UK
Gradient
Descent, Nature Morte, Delhi, India
Open Codes.
Living in Digital Worlds, ZKM | Center for Art and Media, Goethe Institute,
Mumbai
New
Contemporaries, Block336, London
I am here to learn: For the mechanical interpretation of the world, Frankfurter
Kunstverein, Germany
2017
"Machine Learning for Creativity
and Design", NIPS 2017, Online Exhibition
"
Stars of AI, Life 3.0 with Max Tegmark, Turing Lecture Theatre, Institute of
Technology & Engineering, London
Bloomberg New Contemporaries, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Newcastle
>when machines are dreaming< , Chaos Computer Club (CCC) Datenspuren, Technische
Sammlungen, Dresden
Ars Electronica Festival
2017: Artificial Intelligence, A.I. Projects
Exhibition, Artificial Intimacy
Exhibition & TADA Gallery
Space | (catalogue
p.73 + 117), Ars Electronica, POSTCITY, Linz, Austria
Digital/Real – How Art Surfs Between Worlds, Mobiliar Headquarters, Bern,
Switzerland
AI:
Myth and Reality, Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (CFI),
Cambridge
Machine Made: Art, Robotics & A.I., QUAD, Derby
'Ask
Something' - Acud Macht Neu, Transmediale and CTM Vorspiel, Berlin
2022
A Night
of A.I and Drag,
Zabludowicz Collection, Chalk Farm, London, UK
Clandestine Cabaret - Zizi & Me preview, Above The Stag Theatre, Vauxhall, London,
UK
2021
Zizi &
Me (& Jake),
Gazelli Art House, Mayfair, London, UK
The Zizi Show Preview and Launch, Royal Vauxhall Tavern, London, UK
Prix Ars Electronica - Interactive Art + (Honorary Mention), 2022;
AI Newcomer Award, Art Category,
2021 - German Informatics Society e.V. (GI) and the German Federal
Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) -
For new talents who have already achieved outstanding success in the various fields of research
and activity in the field of AI and who can be expected to have a significant influence on AI
research in the future.
Lumen Prize, Futures Award Shortlist, 2021;
The Lumen Prize is an international award
which celebrates art created with technology, especially digital art.
Lumen Prize, Moving Image Shortlist, 2018; The Lumen Prize is an international award
which celebrates art created with technology, especially digital art.
UCL Arts & Humanities Dean’s List, 2017; The Dean's List is awarded to the top 5% of
graduating students every year, to recognise academic achievement substantially above the
requirements of a first class degree.
Julian Sullivan Prize for outstanding achievement in Media Art, 2017;
Top UK result for Cambridge Pre-U Art and Design, 2012;
ZKM | Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe
Zabludowicz Collection, London
BBC FOUR; 'Kill
Your TV: Jim Moir’s Weird World Of Video Art' Sunday 24 November 2019 - Watch Here
ZDF aspekte; 'Künstliche
Intelligenz: Unser Leben mit denkenden Maschinen' Friday 12 March 2021 - Watch Here
September 2021,
New London Art Exhibition Shows NFTs In Holographic Form; David Phelan,
Forbes.
Leading Artists Auction NFTs To Benefit Saatchi Gallery Learning; artlyst.
July 2021,
Meet the artist queering AI technology; Eve Watling, Independent.
Zizi
- Queering the Dataset - Gazelli Art House listing,
Artsy.
June 2021, You
and AI: Through the Algorithmic Lens, e-flux
"You
and AI": 25 works on artificial intelligence in the Field of Areos
, Newsroom, HuffPost Greece
May 2021,
Come to the deepfake cabaret, where AI drag performers come to play; Katie
Collins,
CNET.
Deep Fake, Real Change: What Is at Stake in Artist Jake Elwes’ Work of Queering AI?;
Deen Atger (ed Juliet Rennie), Agora Digital.
‘Sculpture
in the City’ returns for its tenth year,
TimeOut
March 2021,
‘Deep fake’ drag act is the new reality (read here in full)
; Mike Wade, The Times.
Edinburgh International Festival embraces deep fakes and artificial intelligence in virtual
drag show; Brian Ferguson, The Scotsman.
Digital Art Exhibition to Showcase Creative Potential of AI; Ross Kelly,
Digit.
Edinburgh International Festival opens digital art exhibition; Phyllis Stephen, The
Edinburgh Reporter.
Deepfake drag show explores AI’s social biases through interactive performances; Thomas
Macaulay, Neural - The Next Web
July 2020, Cede Control of
Your Web Browser to This High Tech Exhibition; Sam Gaskin, Ocula.
Real-Time
Constraints, a group exhibition featuring works by artists working within the realms of
artificial intelligence, algorithms, machine learning, big data, and interventions in
web-based platforms; Fad Magazine.
October 2020,
An Artificial Intelligence that creates image poetry; Carita Pettersson;
Probeta
August 2019,
Episode I. Artificial Intelligence and Drag Performance: Jake Elwes’s “The Zizi
Project”
; Alex Estorick & Beth Jochim; Flash Art.
July 2019,
The Aesthetic Sense of Artificial Intelligence; Ennio Bianco; Espoarte.
March 2019,
Artificial intelligence: the art world’s weird and wonderful new medium; Francesca
Gavin; How to Spend it, Financial Times.
Febuary 2019,
Can AI be a big hitter in the art world?
(read here in full); Colin Gleadell; The Telegraph.
November 2018,
MaloMalo Presents ‘Digital Bodies’: A Queer Exhibition on Virtual Reality and The Body;
FAD Magazine.
October 2018, Up
for Bid, AI Art Signed ‘Algorithm’; The New York Times.
'Painting
by A.I. robot sells for $432,500 USD at auction' ;
Global
News Canada. (television report)
September 2018, AI
is their paintbrush, but the artwork is no less human; Fastcompany.
August 2018, AI-Generated
Art Just Got Its First Mainstream Gallery Show. See It Here—and Get Ready;
Artnet.
The
Image in the Machine: AI Art and it's implications; PIX.
Gradient Descent;
Platform Magazine.
AI art is on
the rise – but how do we measure its success?; Apollo Magazine.
An AI genre
in its
infancy questions the nature of art; Financial Times.
Is
Artificial Intelligence the new artist we need to watch out for?; Vogue
India.
India's
first exhibition of art created by Artificial Intelligence raises questions about
human conscience; Firstpost.
The
poetics of metonymy; The Hindu.
Inside
India’s first AI art show; livemint.
Artificial
Intelligence (AI) - Creating a New Genre in Art; Art Market.
Artificial
Intelligence Art: Parenting a new genre; Forbes, India.
Gradient
Descent - When Artificial Intelligence Meets Art; The Hindu.
January 2018, Bloomberg
New Contemporaries 2018: 6 new artists you need to know about; Evening
Standard.
Go
see these future art superstars at Bloomberg New Contemporaries; TimeOut
(London).
Bloomberg
New Contemporaries Block 336 'Six emerging artists who stand out from the
crowd'; Artlyst.
September 2017, Porn
pictures from the machine show sexual fantasies; Futurezone (Austria).
Wallpaper China, 2021.
(PDF)
NOWRE China, 2021. (PDF)
Alex Estorick & Beth Jochim,
Flash Art, 2020. (PDF)
'CUSP',
Zabludowicz: Interview with Jake Elwes and Curator Maitreyi Maheshwari, 2019. (PDF)
Maria Redaelli,
Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, 2020. (PDF)
Artsy, Sam Gaskin, 2018. (PDF)
New York Times, Gabe Cohn, 2018.
(PDF)
Fast Company, DJ Pangburn, 2018.
(PDF)
Drew Hemment, Martin Zeilinger, Matjaz Vidmar, Jake Elwes (2022), Towards a heuristic model for
experiential AI in ‘The Zizi Show’. Edinburgh Futures Institute
Owen Perry (2021). The Zizi Show, Volupté: Interdisciplinary Journal of Decadence Studies.
Goldsmiths, London
Anne Ploin, Eynon, R., Hjorth I. & Osborne, M.A. (2022). AI and the Arts: How Machine Learning
is Changing Artistic Work.. Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, UK
Rebecca Pedrazzi, (2021). Possible futures. Milan, Italy: Jaca Books.
Andreas J. Hirsch, Marcus Jandl, Gerfried Stocker (2021). The Practice of Art and AI. Ars
Electronica, Austria: Hantje Cantz Verlag.
Simone Chen (2021). IDEAT 理想家 - The Book of Sand. Shanghai: IDEAT Publishers
Marcus Jandl, Gerfried Stocker (2021). A New Digital Deal. Ars Electronica, Austria:
Hantje Cantz Verlag.
Lans Harmsen (2021). Slanted 37 - A.I.. Karlsruhe, Germany: Slanted Publishers
Martin Zeilinger (2021). Tactical Entanglements: AI Art, Creative Agency, and the Limits of
Intellectual Property. Lüneburg, Germany: meson press
Jimmy Huang (2021). Jake Elwes: Constructing and Deconstructing Gender with AI-Generated
Art. The Montreal AI Ethics Institute (online)
Kanta Dihal, Sarah Dillon, Stephen Cave (2020). AI Narratives: A History of Imaginative
Thinking about Intelligent Machines.
Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Gianmaria Ajani (2020). Contemporary Artificial Art and the Law.
Leiden, Netherlands: Brill.
Paul Luckraft (2020). Zabludowicz Collection Invites Vol 2. Cassochrome: Belgium
André-Louis Paré, Andreas Broeckmann (2020). CREATING IN THE ERA OF ARTIFICIAL
INTELLIGENCE. ESPACE Art Actuel.
Drew Hemment (2019). Preternatural : An exhibition of works by Jake Elwes . Edinburgh
College of Art: Experiential AI
Arthur Miller (2019). The Artist in the Machine: The World of AI-Powered Creativity.
Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.
Peter Weibel (2019). Open codes. Living in digital worlds. Esslingen: Edition Cantz.
Andreas Broeckmann (2019). The Machine as Artist as Myth. Lüneburg, Germany: (IPK),
Leuphana University.
Tom Mouna (2019). Mining the machine Long Xinru. Hong Kong: ArtAsiaPacific, No. 114, Jul
2019
Marykate Regan (2019). Generative Adversarial Networks & The Art Market. New York:
Fashion
Institute of Technology Publishing.
Irini Papadimitriou (2018). Artificially Intelligent. London: Victoria & Albert
Museum
Hannes Leopoldseder, Christine Schöpf, Gerfried Stocker (2017). Artificial Intelligence – the
Other I. Ars Electronica, Austria: Hantje Cantz Verlag.
Caroline Achaintre, Elizabeth Price, and George Shaw (2017). Bloomberg New Contemporaries
2017. New Contemporaries (1988) Ltd.
‘The Neural Aesthetic - Machine Learning for Artists’, School of Machines, Making &
Make-Believe, Berlin, 2016
‘ITP Camp’, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, New York, 2018
‘Programming Applications’, Computer Science BSc Module, Kings College London
2015
'Convolutional Neural Networks', Andrew Ng, Coursera 2018
‘Neural Networks and Deep Learning’ (Stanford University), Andrew Ng, Coursera 2017
‘Creative Applications of Deep Learning with TensorFlow’, Kadenze 2016