The ability to develop and use tools is a defining characteristic of human beings: from the invention of the wheel to the development of the iPod, technology has continually shaped us. In recent years, the computerization of society has opened the door to the automation of information processes. Artificial intelligence, a subfield of computer sciences, has been tremendously successful at endowing machines with autonomous and proactive behaviours to achieve tasks that rely on intelligence when done by humans. As a result, machines are everywhere: omnipresent and unavoidable. They fly planes, they regulate nuclear plants, they design electric circuits, they build cars, and they play chess and Jeopardy. The list is seemingly endless, but can machines create art?

Computational creativity is a new and fast growing field that is exploring the automation of creative processes. It investigates creativity as it is (striving to understand and simulate human creativity) as well as creativity as it could be (processes that we know humans to be incapable of, at least without machines). It brings together academics and artists to design machines that are capable of making creative decisions.

Stemming from a long tradition of generative and process-based art, 'Where do we stop and they begin?' presents audio, video, robotics, interactive installation and print pieces by a selection of Vancouver-based artists for which machines were part of the creative process. We invite you to come explore and question the idea of machine creativity.

Philippe Pasquier, Arne Eigenfeldt, June 11, 2012

Featuring works by: Chris Anderson, Jim Andrews, Jim and Justine Bizzocchi, Ben Bogart, Kaj Duncan David, Arne Eigenfeldt, Malcolm Levy and Justin Love.

This exhibition is presented by the Metacreation, Agents and MultiAgent Systems laboratory (MAMAS), which is conducting scientific and artistic research on endowing machines with autonomous, intelligent or creative behavior.