Bio
Wesley Goatley is a critical artist and researcher based in London, UK.
His work critically interrogates the myths and manipulations of the AI industry and its relations to society, geopolitics, and the climate crisis, and how art practice can intervene. He starts most talks on this topic with a reminder that Artificial Intelligence does not exist, and that AI is a brand, not a technology.
He has given talks on his practice and research at events such as Global Art Forum Singapore, the McLuhan Center for Culture and Technology in Toronto, CTM Festival Berlin, and the European Data Forum Eindhoven. He has been a keynote speaker at both academic conferences and international art events, including Milan Design Week and the University of Edinburgh. His writing has featured in arts magazines, academic journals, and news outlets. He has been a creative consultant for organisations such as BBC R&D and the University of the Creative Arts, London.
His installations, performances, and films have been shown at international venues including Eyebeam in New York, Berghain in Berlin, The Nam June Paik Art Center in Seoul, and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. He has a 25-year practice as an experimental performer and musician, including work for labels such as Kranky (US) and Southern (UK). He was awarded an EMARE/EMAP residency prize with Impakt Festival in 2017, and has been artist in residence at Extrapool Nijmegen and Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada.
He holds a doctorate in Creative and Critical Practice from the University of Sussex, and is Programme Director of Interaction Design and Visual Communication at the London College of Communication, University of the Arts London, where he is also the co-founder of the Critical Climate Computing research group.
Substack: https://wesleygoatley.substack.com/
Twitter: @wesleygoatley
Instagram: @wesleygoatley
Email: wesleygoatley@gmail.com
Bandcamp: wesleygoatley.bandcamp.com
Selected Talks:
Demand No Automation: Towards a ‘Progressive’ AI Art – Hypha Gallery, London, February 2024
‘Critical Data Aesthetics’ @ Global Art Forum – Singapore, September 2018
Recent Exhibitions and Performances:
AI: Who’s Looking After Me?, London, UK – June 2023-January 2024
Artificial Incantations, Arnhem, NL – January-March 2023
SPEKTRUM Opening, Rumelange, LU – November 2022
AI Anarchies, Berlin, DE – October 2022
ROMADAY 2022 Festival, Berlin, DE – April 2022
KIKK Festival, Namur, BE – November 2021
Nam June Paik Art Center, Seoul, KR – September 24th 2020 – January 29th 2021
CTM Festival 2020 Exhibition, Berlin, DE – January 2020
Berghain for CTM Festival 2020, Berlin DE – January 2020
Glass Room San Francisco, San Francisco, USA – October-November 2019
London Design Festival, London, UK – September – October 2019
Brighton Digital Festival, Brighton, UK – October 2019
Universo Assisi Festival 2019, Assisi, IT – July 27th 2019
Supra Systems Studio: V&A Digital Design Weekend, V&A Museum, London, UK – September 21st-23rd 2018
Conjuring Alexa’s Ghosts: Eyebeam, New York, USA – April 25th 2018
Design for Life: Milan Design Week 2018 – April 17th-22nd 2018
SFX Seoul Sound Art Festival 2017 – December 8th 2017 – January 28th 2018
Haunted Machines IMPAKT Festival 2017 – 25th-29th October 2017
Oddstream Festival, Arnhem, NL – 27th-29th October 2017
The Glass Room, London, UK – 25th October – 12th November 2017
Brighton Digital Festival 2017, Brighton, UK – September 2017
Design Frontiers: Somerset House for London Design Festival 2017, London, UK – September 2017
Haunted Random Forest Festival, Brighton, UK – April 2017
Queen’s University Artist Residency, Kingston, CA – March 2017
Space to Breathe, Somerset House, London, UK – January 2017
Patchlab Digital Art Festival, Krakow, PL – October 2016
DATA_SE1 London Design Festival, London, UK – September 2016
MK International Festival 2016, Milton Keynes, UK – August 2016