Bucharest Biennale 2022 to Be Curated by AI System Jarvis

The 10th edition of the Bucharest Biennale, postponed from 2020 to 2021, will be curated by Jarvis, an artificial intelligence system created by Vienna-based studio Spinnwerk. Jarvis, named after Marvel's AI butler, will be trained over two years using databases from universities, galleries, and art centers to learn curatorial practices. Once trained on the biennale's theme, Jarvis will select artists deemed most suitable. The biennale, scheduled from May 19 to July 17, 2022, will take place in virtual reality, accessible via VR headsets, with physical VR stations set up in Vienna and Bucharest. This marks a notable instance of AI taking a curatorial role, following earlier examples like Christie's 2018 auction of an AI-generated artwork by the French collective Obvious using a Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) developed by Ian Goodfellow in 2014. The use of digital platforms for art events accelerated during COVID-19 lockdowns, and this VR-only biennale continues that trend even as restrictions ease.