John Gould, Jardinier brun - Amblyornis inornata - Vogelkop Bowerbird, 1915-1916. Wikicommons.

Art beyond the human: spirits, ecologies, and A.I.

This online lecture hosted by City Lit explores the role of the non-human in shaping art practice. To some, art is central to what makes us human, but artists have long engaged more-than-human agencies—spiritual, ecological, now digital. Surrealism appropriated spiritualist and Indigenous traditions; Land Art made ecosystems co-authors. Today, as some talk of an ‘Anthropocene’, many artists turn their attention elsewhere. Did ancient hominids make art? Can birds, or even fish? And what about AI? De-centering the Human reshapes what art is—but are we ready?