Curated by Mashinka Firunts Hakopian and Meldia Yesayan 

In computer science, algorithmic models are used to forecast and visualize prospective futures. Beyond recent large language models (ChatGPT) and image generators (DALL-E, Midjourney), modeling is also used in predictive policing, judicial risk assessment, automated hiring, and elsewhere. These models structure our present, projecting worlds marked by radically asymmetrical power distributions.

Invoking the various meanings of “modeling,” the exhibition assembles the work of artists who map the limits of our current algorithmic imaginaries and move beyond them in acts of critical world building. Modifying a line from feminist technoscience scholar, Donna Haraway—“It matters what stories make worlds, what worlds make stories”— the exhibition’s title reflects the featured artists’ interest in speculative worlding and in reimagining algorithmic systems. 

Algorithmic worldmaking often unfolds in a “black box”––an opaque space of automated decision-making whose rationale is hidden from public view. The featured artists open up the black box for scrutiny, imagining possibilities for feminist, antiracist, and decolonial AI.

What Models Make Worlds was originally presented as Encoding Futures at OXY ARTS, the public art space and cultural platform of Occidental College, from September-November 2021. The exhibition is curated by Mashinka Firunts Hakopian, associate professor of technology and social justice at ArtCenter College of Design and Meldia Yesayan, director of OXY ARTS. 

About the curators

Mashinka Firunts Hakopian

Born in Yerevan, Mashinka Firunts Hakopian is an Armenian writer, artist, and researcher residing in Glendale, CA. She is an associate professor in technology and social justice at ArtCenter College of Design and was formerly a visiting Mellon professor of the practice at Occidental College. Her book, The Institute for Other Intelligences, was released by X Artists’ Books in December 2022 as the first in its X topics series and edited by Ana Iwataki and Anuradha Vikram. She is the guest co-editor of the spring 2023 issue of Art Papers on artificial intelligence, co-edited with Sarah Higgins. She holds a PhD in history of art from the University of Pennsylvania.

Her writing and commentary have appeared in the Los Angeles Review of Books, Performance Research Journal, the Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, Art Papers, Hyperallergic, Georgia Journal, Art in America, AI Now Institute’s “New AI Lexicon” series, and Meghan Markle’s Archetypes. With Avi Alpert and Danny Snelson, she makes up one-third of Research Service, a media collective that pursues performative and practice-based forms of scholarship. Her current book project considers the role of ancestral intelligence and diasporic worldmaking in emerging technologies.

Meldia Yesayan

Meldia Yesayan is the director of OXY ARTS, the multidisciplinary arts programming initiative at Occidental College. She oversees all aspects of its programming and development, including organizing all exhibitions and programs, facilitating visiting artist residencies such as the Wanlass artist-in-residence program, initiating cross-departmental and interdisciplinary collaborations, and engaging the Occidental community in socially conscious discourse with contemporary arts practices. She is also responsible for developing meaningful and sustained relationships with the Los Angeles area arts communities, including partnerships with local arts agencies, artists, and institutions.

Prior to OXY ARTS, Yesayan was the managing director of Machine Project, a groundbreaking arts collective nationally recognized for its inventive engagement based programming and partnerships with museums and academic institutions across the country. In this role, she led the production of more than 300 public projects and worked with a diverse group of artists across disciplines. Prior to Machine Project, she held leadership positions at Sotheby’s auction house and Muse Film and Television. She is often called on by state and local arts agencies and foundations to serve on review and selection committees for grant and artist selections and has contributed to Art Papers and the Los Angeles Review of Books. She holds a JD and BA from UCLA and is a USPAP certified fine art appraiser.

OXY ARTS

OXY ARTS is Occidental College’s public art center. Rooted in social justice and community engagement, it is a vital public space for discovery, engagement, and learning at the intersection of art, culture, and social movements. OXY ARTS is located in the heart of the Highland Park neighborhood in northeast Los Angeles and is committed to facilitating projects that hold space for complex ideas and dialogue, spark curiosity, and invest in artists and community growth.

Algorithmic Justice League

Morehshin Allahyari

Andrew Demirjian and Dahlia Elsayed

Stephanie Dinkins

Aroussiak Gabrielian

Maya Indira Ganesh with Design Beku

Kite

Lauren Lee McCarthy

Mimi Ọnụọha

Niama Safia Sandy

Caroline Sinders

Astria Suparak

Mandy Harris Williams

Kira Xonorika 

Exhibition installation information

An installation on two walls, a large window, and a section of floor at the end of a hallway. There are wallpapered elements in geometric patterns on all surfaces. A rug hangs vertically on the back wall and there are two sculpted pillars on the floor at waist height.Sebastian Bach
Gallery interior with two walls bisected by a partial wall. The wall on the left is black and has artworks mounted on it and on the floor in front of it. The wall on the right is white and features a metallic door frame. The bisecting wall is yellow and has black trim. There is some text on the yellow wall, titled with the header “What Models Make Worlds, Critical Imaginaries of AI.”Sebastian Bach
Interior space with three walls. The left and back wall are white, the right wall is yellow with black trim. There is a wooden desk with white chairs pushed against the left wall and two hanging platforms hovering near the back wall are glowing purple.Sebastian Bach
Interior space featuring a white wall and a gray floor. There is a wooden table with two swivel chairs at the center of the frame and a diagram on the wall behind it is labeled “How to Make, Collect, or Archive Feminist Data.” A monitor hangs on the wall to the left of the table and wall diagram. Some furniture elements are visible to the far left and right.Sebastian Bach
Gallery interior with two walls bisected by a partial wall. The wall on the left is white and the wall on the right is black. The bisecting wall is yellow with black trim and holds a video monitor. Hanging from the ceiling in front of the white wall are two narrow platforms hovering parallel to one another. There is a purple glow on the left side of the room.Sebastian Bach
Interior of an art gallery featuring two yellow walls with an aisle in between. The entry text on the right wall reads “What Models Make Worlds, Critical Imaginaries of AI.” Further down the aisle between the walls, some artworks can be seen deeper inside the gallery.Sebastian Bach
Gallery interior with black walls and a gray floor. There are artworks mounted on the back and left walls and two freestanding artworks in the center of the floor.Sebastian Bach
Gallery interior with black walls and a gray floor. On the back wall, there is a print collaged with images from popular media. On the right, there is a partial view of a structure made of PVC pipes. On the left, at an angle, a mounted video monitor displays a woman’s face. There is a round rug on the floor.Sebastian Bach
Gallery interior with a black wall and a gray floor. There is a large cube made of PVC pipes in the center of the floor. It has two rugs running across the floor, contained inside the borders of the PVC pipe frame. One horizontal pipe holds white t-shirts on hangers. There is a television monitor embedded inside the PVC pipe frame. On the wall to the right of the cube, there is a framed portrait.Sebastian Bach
Gallery interior with black walls and an aisle running down the center. There are artworks lined against each of the walls, including some mounted on the wall and some freestanding on the floor.Sebastian Bach
Two black walls with an aisle down the middle. Each wall has a video monitor in the center. Standing on the floor in front of the left wall, there is a wooden desk with a computer on it. On the floor, in front of the right wall, there is a round black rug.Sebastian Bach
Gallery interior with black walls and a gray floor. There are several artworks displayed including freestanding works on a desk and one on a pedestal, as well as mounted works on the walls, some of which are displayed on screens.Sebastian Bach
A black wall connecting to a gray floor. On the left side of the wall are four prints with black borders installed in a grid. On the right side, one image is spread across seven video monitors.Sebastian Bach
Interior view of a gallery space where two black walls meet at a corner. There are mounted artworks on both walls. The floor is gray and features two additional freestanding artworks, one is on a pedestal and the other is a large cube made of PVC pipes.Sebastian Bach
Gallery interior with a black wall and a gray floor. To the left, a wooden desk with a matching wooden chair holds a computer, a monitor, and a packet of paper. Mounted on the wall, to the right of the desk, a screen displays images of two women.Sebastian Bach
An installation on two walls, a large window, and a section of floor at the end of a hallway. There are wallpapered elements in geometric patterns on all surfaces. A rug hangs vertically on the back wall and there are two sculpted pillars on the floor at waist height.Sebastian Bach

Andrew Demirjian and Dahlia Elsayed

The Center for No Center, 2023
Mixed media


Mandy Harris Williams

In collaboration with Shivani Desai
In Discriminate, 2021 
Sound, 3:20


Digital image featuring a web graph with yellow, blue, and white circles connected by white lines. There is a text box layered on top of the circles that reads “Software.”

Maya Indira Ganesh with Design Beku

A Is For Another, 2020
Data visualization

Gallery interior with a wooden table pushed against a white wall. There are white chairs on either side of the table. A diagram on the wall above the table is labeled “How to Make, Collect, or Archive Feminist Data.”Sebastian Bach

Caroline Sinders

Feminist Data Set, 2017-2023
Wall vinyl, worksheets, paper trays

Open books laid out on a narrow platform. Each textbook has a plant growing from its pages and there are magnifying glasses laying against them. Overhead lighting gives the entire scene a purple hue.Sebastian Bach

Aroussiak Gabrielian

Botanic Attunement, 2023
Books on Western science seeded with species of Cucurbitaceae and Fabaceae, magnifying glasses, grow lights, nutrient feed
Dimensions variable

Digital image on a black background with a circular headshot surrounded by a border of colorful light rays. There is captioning at the bottom of the screen which reads “Whose voice do you hear…”

Algorithmic Justice League

Voicing Erasure, 2020
Video, 2:53

Image of a Black woman’s head on a black background. The woman has saturated orange skin and long white curly hair.Sebastian Bach

Stephanie Dinkins

Not the Only One (N’TOO), Avatar, V1, 2023 (Data 2018-ongoing)
Deep learning AI, computers, camera, microphone, screen

Sebastian Bach

Astria Suparak

Sympathetic White Robots (White Robot Tears version), 2021  | 2023
Vinyl print

Virtually Asian, 2021
Video, 3:05

Room sized immersive installation shaped like a three dimensional rectangular frame. There are two carpet runners on the floor, and two video monitors mounted on the wall and on the ceiling.Sebastian Bach

Lauren Lee McCarthy

LAUREN, 2017-ongoing
Video, devices, furnishings
100 x 109 x 147 inches

Gallery interior with black walls and a gray floor. On the left, two framed portraits hang side by side on the wall. On the right, a monitor standing on the floor displays a digital portrait.Sebastian Bach

Morehshin Allahyari

ماه طلعت طلعت Moon-Faced, 2022
Monitor, mirror frame, video
75 x 43 x 14 inches

Moon-Faced Velvet Fragments I, 2023
AI-generated image, dye-sublimation print on velvet in custom frame
75 x 43.5 x 2.25 inches

Moon-Faced Velvet Fragments II, 2023
AI-generated image, dye-sublimation print on velvet in custom frame
75 x 43.5 x 2.25 inches

Four posters on painted black backgrounds with visible black brushstrokes. The posters read “Black Life is Greater Than The Sum of Any Data Set,” “Algorithms Cannot Predict The Innumerable Possibilities of Blackness,” “Black Life Thrives Beyond Your Accounts and Algorithms,” and “Stop Adjusting.”Sebastian Bach

Niama Safia Sandy

The Groove, 2021
Vinyl prints
52 x 42 inches

The open drawer of a white filing cabinet. The drawer is filled with brown folders that have white tabs on top. Each folder is labeled.Sebastian Bach

Mimi Ọnụọha

Library of Missing Datasets, Version 1.0, 2016
Steel filing cabinet with folders and tabs
20.25 x 16.25 x 20 inches

Library of Missing Datasets, Version 3.0, 2021
Steel filing cabinet filled with sealed envelopes containing missing datasets
16.75 x 15.375 x 19.75 inches

A digital image of two front facing figures displayed across seven screens. Both figures wear brightly colored skin tight garments ornamented with colorful feathers and there is some greenery behind them.Sebastian Bach

Kira Xonorika

Teleport Us to Mars, 2022
AI-generated images, video monitors

A wooden desk and matching chair holding a computer with monitor and speakers, as well as a spiral bound packet of paper. The monitor shows an image of an archive.Sebastian Bach

Kite

Makȟóčheowápi Akézaptaŋ (Fifteen Maps), 2021
Monitor, PC, speakers, printout

Video in two panels depicting a conversation between a Black woman and a humanoid robot designed to look like a Black woman.Sebastian Bach

Stephanie Dinkins

Conversations with Bina 48 (Fragment 11), 2014-ongoing
Video, 2:44