I wonder: how might an AI feel? In my recent series of work, Guanyin is a ‘carebot’, an AI in charge of repairing the psychological damage done to other AIs. Essentially, they are cyborg therapists. I often think about how technological development operates like speculative fiction; future scenarios are often explored in advance through simulation exercises.
– Lawrence Lek
London-based artist, filmmaker and musician Lawrence Lek has been announced as the recipient of the 2024 Artist Award at Frieze London. The award – in partnership with Forma – gives an early- or mid-career artist the opportunity to realise an ambitious new commission at Frieze London.
Lek’s work unifies diverse practices – architecture, gaming, video, music and writing – through the lens of science fiction, often addressing the moral dilemmas around AI while exploring the creative potential of digital worldbuilding, shot through with dark, absurdist humour. Over the last decade, he has incorporated video games and computer-generated animation into site-specific installations which he describes as ‘three-dimensional collages of found objects and situations’.
This year’s Artist Award in London is responding to the same brief, with Lek considering advanced technologies in his 2024 multimedia installation comprising video game, sculpture and video titled Guanyin (Confessions of a Former Carebot), drawing from gaming to mine the social, spiritual and emotional impact of artificial intelligence.
Lek’s Artist Award will focus on the eponymous character from his ongoing Sinofuturist cinematic universe. The project will combine narrative worldbuilding and mechanical sculpture into an immersive environment where players gradually uncover the story of Guanyin’s existence. In Lek’s world, Guanyin is a Carebot, a cyborg therapist created to save other AI from the brink of self-destruction. Named after the Buddhist goddess of mercy, Guanyin (literally, ‘the one who listens’) embodies the artist's interest in the spiritual and emotional dimensions of technology.
The dashboard sculpture presents Guanyin in a ‘royal ease’ pose, which became associated with the deity in the late ninth century. In their new incarnation, Guanyin keeps watch over all sentient creatures, both human and machine.
The audience follows Guanyin as she examines a series of self-driving cars who have been identified for problematic behaviour. Haunting in tone and meditative in intent, the project draws from the idea of 'walking simulators' – a genre of video games in which players discover clues by exploring an environment. Guanyin's thoughts accompany the player's journey, recounting journal entries, company reports and messages to the nonhuman patients in her care. These dialogues reflect how conversational AI – from the Turing Test to Alexa and modern chatbots – affect our interactions with the world.
A jury of industry professionals selected Lek’s proposal, including Canan Batur (curator and researcher) and Mariam Zulfiqar (Director, Artangel), alongside Eva Langret (Director, Frieze London) and Chris Rawcliffe (Artistic Director, Forma).
On the occasion of his Frieze Artist Award commission, Lawrence Lek will engage in a conversation with Amy Ireland on Friday 11 October 2024, 6-8pm, at Frieze No. 9 Cork Street W1S 3LL.
Lawrence Lek (b. Frankfurt, 1982) studied at Trinity College, University of Cambridge, the Architectural Association, London, and The Cooper Union, New York. Lek holds a PhD from the Royal College of Art in London. He has exhibited internationally with recent solo exhibitions including NOX, LAS Art Foundation, Berlin (2023); Black Cloud Highway, Sadie Coles HQ, London (2023); Nepenthe (Summer Palace Ruins), QUAD, Derby (2022); Post-Sinofuturism, ZiWU the Bund, Shanghai (2022); Ghostwriter, Center for Contemporary Arts Prague, Prague (2019); Farsight Freeport, HEK House of Electronic Arts Basel, Basel (2019); Nøtel, Urbane Künste Ruhr, Essen (2019); AIDOL 爱道, Sadie Coles HQ, London (2019); Nøtel, Stroom Den Haag, The Hague (2018); 2065, K11 Art Space, Hong Kong (2018); and Play Station, Art Night, London (2017). His work has also featured internationally in numerous group shows, biennales and film festivals including Biennale de I’Image en Mouvement 24 (BIM’24): A Cosmic Movie Camera, Centre d’Art Contemporian, Genève (2024); Connectivity Construction, Asia Culture Centre, Gwangju (2024); The 24th Biennale of Sydney: Ten Thousand Suns, White Bay Power Station (2024); Virtual worlds: From cycloramas to Metaverse, Fundación Telefónica, Madrid (2023); HOPE, MUSEION, Bolzano (2023); Fotograf Festival – hypertension23, National Gallery Prague (2023); Topologies of the Real: Techne, Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art and Urban Planning, Shenzhen (2023); Game Society, MMCA National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul (2023); FOUNDATION: A Web3 Media Art Festival, Videotage, Hong Kong (2023); The Pieces I Am, UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, UCCA Edge, Shanghai (2022); WORLDBUILDING: Gaming and Art in the Digital Age, Julia Stoschek Collection, Düsseldorf (2022); 5th Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Kochi (2022); Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul (2022); Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney (2022); donaufestival, Krems (2021); IFFR International Film Festival Rotterdam (2020 and 2018); 17th Venice Architecture Biennale (2021); Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco | de Young Legion of Honor, San Francisco (2020); CCCB Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (2019); Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm (2019); Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow (2019); MAXXI Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome (2018); The 6th Taiwan International Video Art Exhibition 2018, Taipei (2018); Arsenale Nord, Venice (2017); UCCA, Beijing (2017), among others. Lek has been recognised with the 2017 Jerwood/FVU Award and the 2015 Dazed Emerging Artist Award. In 2021 he was the recipient of both the 4th VH Award Grand Prix and the LACMA 2021 Art + Technology Lab Grant and in July 2024 he was announced as the winner of the Frieze London 2024 Artist Award. Lek lives and works in London.