Experimenta Social #48: The Future of Art?
Presented by ACMI X
When
Tues 13 May 2025
6–7.30pm
The year is 2031. Millions of out of work artists sift through debris in texture mines, looking for patterns that have not yet been seen online. Four years earlier during The Great Enumeration, AI tools were used to ingest all known documented artworks, and now that platform has been acquired by a multinational, providing artwork through paid subscriptions.
ArtMinr, by Jonny Scholes, proposes this future, prompting us to consider the types of systems and ecologies we desire, and the potential routes we might already be treading.
Presented by ACMI X, join Experimenta as they utilise the provocation of Scoles’ work to facilitate a dialogue around the future of labour, the commodification of culture and the extractive nature of digital capitalism.
Be introduced to the work and themes in ArtMinr, and then engage in a dialogue around the value of art and the challenges of our future, through the lens of cultural economist, Professor David Throsby, and climate focussed sector leader, Angharad Wynne-Jones.
This panel discussion will be moderated by Bianca Durrant (Managing Director, Experimenta) and will be followed by an audience Q&A and drinks at ACMIX.
Presented with
Jonny Scholes
Jonny Scholes is an emerging artist from Nipaluna, Lutruwita. Scholes’ work sits at the intersection of technology and exploration of in-between spaces and spans new media, street art, painting, internet art, and installation.
Angharad Wynne-Jones
Angharad Wynne-Jones is a visionary leader with 30 years’ experience in the arts and culture sector in Australia and internationally. She now facilitates Creative Climate, an artist-centred consortium of groups and individuals, working at the intersections of art and climate response.
David Throsby, AO
David Throsby is Distinguished Professor of Economics at Macquarie University in Sydney. He is internationally known for his research and his many publications on the economics of art and culture. His interests include the role of artists as economic agents, the role of culture in sustainable
Experimenta
Experimenta is Australia’s leading organisation dedicated to commissioning, exhibiting and touring contemporary art driven by ideas and shaped by technology.
They hold a creative residency at ACMI X.
ArtMinr
ArtMinr by Jonny Scoles is a participatory installation that will be presented as part of Experiment Emergence: National Tour of Media Arts, launching at Noosa Regional Gallery in June 2025.