CTRL+AI: Art, Code, Credibility, and Human Agency

Join us for a conversation that brings together artistic practice, creative technology, VFX, human–computer interaction, cultural strategy, digital infrastructure, and the teaching of AI and creativity. The central concern is not simply whether a machine can produce an image, an artwork, or code. The deeper issue is how agency, judgment, learning, value, governance, and responsibility shift when systems participate in production, circulation, validation, and the organization of creative work.

Contemporary systems can manufacture artifacts, write code, and simulate social interaction. But producing something is not the same as understanding it, valuing it, maintaining it, or answering for its consequences. The proposed discussion therefore focuses on what remains human—or becomes more deeply human—when execution is distributed among artists, developers, models, platforms, institutions, and audiences.

HYBRID: in person at Sporobole - 74 Rue Albert, Sherbrooke, QC J1H 1M9

Not able to join us at Sporobole? Watch online: https://meet.google.com/hvp-fcuo-vch

SPEAKERS:

Adam Basanta

Adam Basanta (b. 1985) lives and works in Montreal since 2010. Originally studying contemporary music composition, he developed a broad, experimental, autodidactic practice in mixed-media installations.His works have been exhibited worldwide, including the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, WRO Biennale (Wrocław), Fotomuseum Winterthur, Cité internationale des arts (Paris), Arsenal art contemporain (Montreal), Galerie Charlot (Paris), iMAL (Brussels), National Art Center Tokyo, Moscow Biennale for Young Art, Serralves Museum (Porto), Haus für Mediakunst Oldenburg, York Art Gallery, and Center for Contemporary Arts Santa Fe. In Canada, Adam Basanta has been awarded the Prix Pierre-Ayot (2019) and the Sobey Art Award Longlist (2018 and 2020). Internationally, he has been awarded the Japan Media Arts Prize (2016) and the Aesthetica Art Prize (2017), and his work can be found in private and institutional collections.

Renaud Gervais

Renaud Gervais holds a Ph.D. in human-machine interfaces, but has since shifted his focus from academic publications to technological artworks. At Sporobole, he serves as a bridge between art, science, and technology for the artists.

Christian Beltrami

Christian Beltrami has worked internationally at the intersection of technology, storytelling, and the audiovisual industries, exploring how emerging tools, and now AI, can amplify narrative forms and strengthen the impact of film and media. During his residency at Concordia University, Beltrami will lead a three-credit intensive undergraduate course, offered from May 11 to June 1, 2026, alongside a year-long series of public events beginning in April 2026.