Panel Discussion: Ai, Automation And The Future Of Work

with Kathryn Brimblecombe-Fox, Guy Louden, Loriana Luccioni and Pankaj Sah

16 March 2019

Please Join us on March 16th from 1pm for a panel discussion to accompany Dan McCabe's current exhibition Post Leisure. This panel will unpack the implications of an inevitable future of automated labour, inspect the influence and impact of artificial intelligence on social structures, and question the pursuit of a labour free society.

This discussion will be chaired by Kathryn Brimblecombe-Fox, and feature artist, curator and writer Guy Louden, academic Loriana Luccioni and Professor Pankaj Sah Director of the Queensland Brain Institute.

Admission is free

About Post Leisure

Post Leisure is a solo exhibition of new work that explores the impact of Artificial Intelligence, the pursuit of automation and double-edged seduction of devices in creating a supposed labour-free ‘leisure’ society. His reflections upon the ethical and social implications of sophisticated AI applications that mirror human behaviours, leads to speculation upon the comparative rights of highly intelligent bots, and the notion of their value in terms of work and leisure.

McCabe’s works in metal, glass and paint objectify these ideas through the appropriation of the aesthetics and design of high-end tech devices. Visual patterns filtered across these works are extrapolated from medical scans and imaging, as if blurring the human brain’s primacy in intelligence with the reductive and rationalised finesse of its robotic counterparts.

About Dan McCabe

Since graduating with Honours in 2012, McCabe has consistently exhibited in solo and group projects across Brisbane, Perth, Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne. Most recently his work was included in spaced 3: north by south east at the Art Gallery of Western Australia, a major exhibition that celebrated the work of artist exchanges between Nordic and Australian artists. Late in 2018 he was additionally the recipient of the FAC-Art Ichol Artist in Residence Program in India.

About Pankaj Sah

Professor Pankaj Sah is Director of the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) at The University of Queensland (UQ). He is renowned for his work in understanding the neural circuitry of the amygdala, an area of the brain that plays a central role in learning and memory formation. Dysfunction of the amygdala leads to a host of anxiety-related disorders. His laboratory uses a combination of molecular tools, electrophysiology, anatomical reconstruction, calcium imaging and behavioural studies to examine the electrophysiological signatures of different brain regions and their impact on disease. Recently, his laboratory has been working with patients undergoing electrode implantation for deep brain stimulation, which is used to treat a variety of disorders such as Parkinson's disease, Tourette's syndrome and essential tremor. Pankaj is also the Editor-in-Chief of the Nature Partner Journal npj Science of Learning, the first journal to bring together the findings of neuroscientists, psychologists, and education researchers to understand how the brain learns.

About Guy Louden

Guy Louden is an artist and curator based in Sydney. From 2014 to 2016, Louden was a director of Moana Project Space. In 2015, he co-founded and managed Success, a largescale art space in Fremantle. He has curated exhibitions for the Perth International Art Festival, Moana, and Success. Since 2017, he has exhibited his own artwork, notably at Bus Projects (VIC), Firstdraft (NSW), and Polizia (WA). Louden holds an MA in Art History from the University of Manchester (2013) and a BA from the University of Western Australia (2011). Network Archeology is his first solo exhibition.

About Loriana Luccioni

Loriana has completed degrees in Psychology and Sociology, a Master of Science in European and Comparative Social Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science, where her dissertation was awarded the Titmuss Prize. Following a short collaboration as postgraduate researcher in the Policy Innovation Hub at Griffith University, in 2018 Loriana started her PhD in the School of Social Sciences at The University of Queensland. Her research investigates the actual and potential feasibility for the implementation of a UBI in Australia, through an analysis of circulating socio-political discourses. She is a member of Universal Basic Income Europe and Basic Income Earth Network.

This project is supported by the West Australian Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries, and Fremantle Arts Centre, through the Artist In Residence program