Talk: Lumen Prize Evening Artists In Conversation at EVA

Carla Rapoport chairs a discussion with Andy Lomas, Brendan Dawes and Nye Thompson about computational practice and their relationships with the Lumen Prize. Lomas presents systems inspired by biological growth, showing how changes in simulated conditions generate different forms. He explores constraints from fabrication and uses machine learning to navigate possibilities rather than simply produce images from prompts. Dawes describes transforming data into poetic experiences, including cybersecurity imagery, abstracted film movement and an artwork centred on a moment from the Kennedy assassination footage. His account extends to generative cinema through collaboration on a documentary about Brian Eno. Thompson traces a practice concerned with surveillance, machine vision and images produced without human intention. Security cameran archives lead to imagined machine audiences, a collaborative horror film and exchanges of encoded postcards with satellites. The panel discusses AI as tool, collaborator and subject of critique, alongside the desire for surprise. Funding models include commissions, education, research partnerships, collectors, galleries and public support. Audience questions explore domestic display, physical prints, technical maintenance and the perceived value of digital work. The artists challenge assumptions that computation eliminates effort, while considering how explaining processes, exercising judgement and establishing connections shape audiences’ understanding and ownership of art.

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