AI in Wonderland

illustration © Robert Dunn

Presentation / Team / Berceurs du temps / Research Internship

[More details to come] Resulting from a partnership between an arts company and a university researcher, this collaborative project investigates the interfaces between public art, citizen participation, social dynamics, artificial intelligence (AI) and our relationship with technology. The project is scheduled for completion in 2022-2023.

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Our Team

> Jean-Christophe Bélisle-Pipon is Assistant Professor in Health Ethics in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University and Associate Professor of Bioethics at the Université de Montréal. A bioethicist by training, Jean-Christophe conducts research at the interface of health policy, citizen and patient engagement in health research and governance, and commercial practices. His professional experience, both in the pharmaceutical industry and with government, has given him an insider’s understanding of the ethical, political, and societal dimensions of health technology development and assessment. Jean-Christophe uses empirical and conceptual bioethics methodologies to develop recommendations on the appropriate management and resolution of ethical issues for health regulatory agencies and private sector decision makers.

During his postdoctoral fellowship at the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology and Bioethics at Harvard Law School (2017-2020), his normative focus turned to the ethical, legal, and social implications of artificial intelligence (AI) in the health care field. He is currently leading a research program to help health technology assessment agencies identify, address, and manage ethical and societal considerations arising from the assessment and deployment of AI in the health care system. He also explores participatory, democratic, and deliberative processes to engage stakeholders and citizens in managing the assessment and implementation of AI solutions in the health system. In addition, Jean-Christophe works on the interface between ethics, health, and the arts, including exploring and examining how ethics and aesthetics can open up moral spaces for collective discussions of sensitive, timely and necessary social issues.

> Ilya Krouglikov has been developing an undisciplined approach to performing arts for more than ten years, with a particular attention to composition and rhythm. Trained as a mathematician, he believes in meaningful and inventive structures open to the urges of the present. As a dramaturg, he accompanies various creative processes in dance, theatre and performance art, namely alongside Sarah Dell’Ava, Eduardo Ruiz Vergara and Aurélie Pedron. An experienced fencer, Ilya carries this body language over to dance. As a performer, he works with choreographers and visual artists Bettina Hoffman and Pé Vermeersch (Belgium). Together with the choreographer Eduardo Ruiz Vergara he creates and performs the duet Eyes of Ceres presented at the MAI (Montreal, arts interculturels, 2014) and at Mains d’Œuvres (Paris, 2015).

Artistic codirector at BERCEURS DU TEMPS and committed creator, he promotes slowness and contemplation through participatory works in public space — such as the sound installation Lulling Time, a living archive of lullabies of the world, touring parks and squares of Greater Montreal since summer 2017. Ilya is involved in several co-creation and cultural mediation projects. In 2021, for instance, he gives the spark to Mamie Remix, an initiative that invites high school students to create tender rap music based on poems chosen by seniors.

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Berceurs du temps

Creating poetic spaces that reflect community challenges in contemporary society, BERCEURS DU TEMPS mix artistic mediums – dance, theatre, performance, sound and visual arts – around the idea of voice as a relationship vector. Their work in public space aims to bring art to citizens in an unpredictable and diverted fashion, taming slowness to revisit our relationship to time and discover the beauty of the world.

Founded in 2016 and codirected by choreographer and visual artist Sarah Dell’Ava and dance dramaturg Ilya Krouglikov, the company adopts a collaborative approach, inviting different artists for each new creation. Their first project is a participatory installation designed with the German sound artist Wolfram Sander. Following some 100 performances, Bercer le temps / Lulling Time continues to tour Quebec and Canada. In 2021, the company created O2, a durational performance for 30 dancers presented outside at the Festival TransAmériques, in Montreal’s city center. The same year, the cultural mediation project Mamie Remix invites high school students to create tender rap music based on poems chosen by seniors.

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Research internship in participatory art (6 months, approximately 25 hours per week, paid)

> PDF in French

Research areas: arts, social sciences, ethics, citizen participation

Under the joint direction of
– Ilya Krouglikov, coartistic director of the arts company Berceurs du temps
– Jean-Christophe Bélisle-Pipon, associate professor of bioethics at the Université de Montréal

This position is for an intern interested in participating in the research and development of a project carried out in a partnership between an arts company and a university researcher. We aim to study the interfaces between public art, citizen participation, social dynamics, artificial intelligence (AI) and relationships with technology. The successful candidate will contribute to the development of knowledge (literature review, case studies) and practices in participatory art to prepare the ground for a new creation in public space using AI in 2022-2023.

TASKS

– Scientific literature review and case study
– A series of interviews with artists engaged in participatory or public art
– Critical reflection on the creation of participatory art mechanisms
– Development of research protocols in art fueled by citizen participation
– Preparation and writing of a scientific and general public article

REQUIREMENTS

– Master’s or PhD student in social sciences (sociology, anthropology, philosophy, psychology), arts, ethics, law or a relevant field of study in a Canadian university
– Autonomy and effective time management
– Curiosity, taste for innovation and experimentation
– Interest in artistic and participatory approaches to research
– Excellent writing skills
– Full fluency in French and English
– Experience working in an interdisciplinary team (a plus)
– Having read Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll (a plus)

CANDIDATES

This is a paid research internship for 6 months, with the possibility of renewal. The successful candidate will receive a tax-free scholarship of $12,000. Most of the work will be done remotely from March to August 2022. If interested, please complete the application form by January 16, 2022: forms.gle/knvyYp9Zag9YLmZa6. An interview process will lead to selection at the end of January 2022.