This event will be conducted in-person in The Great Hall and through Zoom. 

For in-person attendance, please register in advance here.
For Zoom attendance, please register in advance here.

Join us for a conversation with Casey Reas and Mario Klingemann, two pioneers in generative and AI art, in discussion with Christiane Paul, Curator of Digital Art at The Whitney Museum of American Art. This event is part of The Cooper Union's annual Discussion on Generative Art and Architecture, a series that delves into the evolving nature of creativity—both human and machine-driven—and the impact of technology on artistic expression. Organized by professors Sam Keene and Benjamin Aranda. 

Casey Reas is an artist and educator exploring algorithmic and material systems across a range of media and scales. His groundbreaking work is matched only by his generational influence as the creator of Processing, an open-source programming language for the visual arts he initiated with Ben Fry. Reas is a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles and holds a masters degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Media Arts and Sciences.

Mario Klingemann is recognized as a pioneer in the field of AI art, neural networks and machine learning. As artist in residence at the Google Arts & Culture Lab and continuing to this day with Botto, an autonomous artist he helped establish, Klingemann uses algorithms and artificial intelligence to create systems that create art. He is particularly interested in the human perception of art and creativity. 

Christiane Paul is Curator of Digital Art at the Whitney Museum of American Art and Professor Emerita at The New School. She is the recipient of 2023 MediaArtHistories International Award and the Thoma Foundation's 2016 Arts Writing Award in Digital Art. Her latest books are Digital Art (4th ed., 2023) and A Companion to Digital Art (Blackwell-Wiley, 2016). At the Whitney Museum she curated exhibitions including Parting Worlds / Hyundai Terrace Commission: Marina Zurkow (2025), Harold Cohen: AARON (2024), Refigured (2023), and Programmed: Rules, Codes, and Choreographies in Art 1965 - 2018 (2018/19) and is responsible for artport, the museum’s portal to Internet art. Other curatorial work includes Chain Reaction (feralfile.com, 2023), DiMoDA 4.0 Dis/Location (traveling show, 2021- ), and The Question of Intelligence (Kellen Gallery, The New School, NYC, 2020).

The historic Great Hall has long been a stage for groundbreaking ideas and pivotal dialogues. Don’t miss this chance to witness a compelling exchange at the intersection of art and technology.

This events is free and open to the public. Registration is required.