Ian Cheng

  • The work of Ian Cheng explores evolutionary processes, including mutation and adaptation in response to changing conditions. Through his work with machine learning, video game engines and ongoing inquiry into cognitive science and psychology, Cheng produces simulations that are never fixed. His practice implies the question, will static artworks that are frozen in time soon be a thing of the past?  Cheng has produced a series of simulations that combine characters and landscapes, exploring (and experimenting with) forms of agency, relation, and the capacity to deal with ever-shifting environmental forces. These works culminated in the Emissaries trilogy, which introduced a narrative agent whose motivation to enact a story was set into conflict with the open-ended chaos of the simulation. Most recently, he has developed BOB (Bag of Beliefs), an AI creature whose personality, body, and life story evolve across exhibitions, what Cheng calls “art with a nervous system.” Several of his projects have taken the form of simulations—self-playing engines whose courses change each time they run within parameters and narratives set by the artist. While Cheng favors detailed environments often involving figures, he follows a compositional principle that encourages viewers to identify with characters and imagine themselves in the richly elaborated on-screen world. Cheng’s projects are informed by science fiction, and like the best storytellers of that genre, he connects the potential of sophisticated technology to the impact of ancient archetypes—the deep forms and habits of the human mind.

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Ian Cheng

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The work of Ian Cheng explores evolutionary processes, including mutation and adaptation in response to changing conditions. Through his work with machine learning, video game engines and ongoing inquiry into cognitive science and psychology, Cheng produces simulations that are never fixed. His practice implies the question, will static artworks that are frozen in time soon be a thing of the past? 

Cheng has produced a series of simulations that combine characters and landscapes, exploring (and experimenting with) forms of agency, relation, and the capacity to deal with ever-shifting environmental forces. These works culminated in the Emissaries trilogy, which introduced a narrative agent whose motivation to enact a story was set into conflict with the open-ended chaos of the simulation. Most recently, he has developed BOB (Bag of Beliefs), an AI creature whose personality, body, and life story evolve across exhibitions, what Cheng calls “art with a nervous system.”

Several of his projects have taken the form of simulations—self-playing engines whose courses change each time they run within parameters and narratives set by the artist. While Cheng favors detailed environments often involving figures, he follows a compositional principle that encourages viewers to identify with characters and imagine themselves in the richly elaborated on-screen world. Cheng’s projects are informed by science fiction, and like the best storytellers of that genre, he connects the potential of sophisticated technology to the impact of ancient archetypes—the deep forms and habits of the human mind.