Biography:Sougwen Chung

From HandWiki
Sougwen Chung (鍾愫君)
Born
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Education
OccupationArtist
Websitesougwen.com

Sougwen Chung (鍾愫君) is a Canadian-born, Chinese-raised artist residing in London who is considered a pioneer in the field of human-machine collaboration.[1][2][3] Chung's artistic practices are based on performance, drawing, still image, sculpture, and installation.[4] Through these media, the work investigates mark-made-by-machine and mark-made-by-hand for understanding the encounter of computers and humans.[5]

Early life

Chung grew up in Toronto, Canada, and Hong Kong. Their father, an opera singer, made sure that his children had experience with musical instruments at a very young age, and Chung grew up playing violin and piano. Sougwen Chung moved to the United States as a teenager and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Indiana University Bloomington before obtaining a Masters Diploma in Interactive Art from Hyper Island in Sweden.[6]

Career

Following their first exhibitions taking place in 2010-2014,[7] Chung began experimenting with drawing in collaboration with machines while a researcher at MIT Media Lab in 2015. This involved collecting two decades of personal drawings to train a recurrent neural network, later titled Drawing Operations Unit: Generation_1 (D.O.U.G._1).[3][8] The robotic arm's behaviour is generated from neural nets trained on the artist's drawing gestures.[9] In a sense, the robotic arm has learned from the visual style of the artist's previous drawings and outputs a machine interpretation during the human/robot drawing duet.[10] In 2016, the artist was awarded the Excellence Award at the Japan Media Arts Festival for this work.[11][12]

Since then, the Drawing Operations series has continued to explore the interplay between human and machine mark-making, examining categories such as “human”, “machine”, “biological", "artificial,” and “intelligence” as evolving rather than fixed concepts.[3][8]

Chung is also an inaugural member of NEW INC, the first museum-led technology and art in collaboration with The New Museum.[6] According to the World Science Festival 2018, they are an Artist-In-Residence at Bell Labs exploring new forms of drawing in virtual reality, with biometrics, machine learning, and robotics.[13]

In 2019 Chung presented a talk at TED@BCG Mumbai titled "Why I draw with robots".[14]

In 2022, Chung's work MEMORY (Drawing Operations Unit: Generation_2) was acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The acquisition of MEMORY comprises a fine art print, a film documenting the artist's process, and a Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) model contained within a 3D printed sculpture.[15]

In 2023, Sougwen Chung was named to the TIME100 AI list for their pioneering work combining painting and robotics.[16][17]

In January 2025, Sougwen Chung participated in a conversation with curator Hans Ulrich Obrist at the World Economic Forum in Davos[18], in a session titled “What Happens When Humans and Robots Create Art Together?”, where they discussed human–machine collaboration in art and the role of AI in creative practice.[19]

Chung's work has been shown at galleries and museums across the world, including Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England,[20] EMMA in Espoo, Finland,[21] Vancouver Art Gallery in Canada,[22] MAMCO in Geneva[23] and der TANK in Basel, Switzerland,[24] ArtScience Museum in Singapore,[25] Shanghai Minsheng Art Museum in China,[26] TOM REICHSTEIN contemporary in Hamburg, Germany,[27] and Istanbul's Akbank Sanat,[28] among others.

Chung has spoken globally at conferences including Tribeca Film Festival, New York;[29] The Hospital Club, London; MUTEK Festival, Montreal & Mexico City; Sónar +D, Barcelona, The Art Directors Club, New York; Internet Dargana, Stockholm;[30] SXSW, Austin;[31] FITC Amsterdam & Tokyo;[5] OFFF, Barcelona; Gray Area Festival, San Francisco,[32] and SIGGRAPH, Vancouver.

Sougwen Chung's work has also been featured in multiple international press outlets including Art F City, Artnet, Artsy, Business Insider,[33] Dazed,[34] Designboom,[35] EXIT Magazine, Engadget, Fast Company, Forbes,[36] MASHABLE,[37] Noema Magazine,[38] Sursuma Magazine,[39] The Creators Project, The New York Times,[40] TIME Magazine,[41] USA Today,[6] Wired,[42] and Yishu.[43]

D.O.U.G._

Chung's growing body of work is created in collaboration with a bespoke, multi-generational system: the Drawing Operations Unit Generation_1–6. Each generation investigates a different aspect of human–machine interaction and symbiosis[44]:

  • MIMICRY (D.O.U.G._1)— a robotic system mirrors the artist’s drawing gestures.
  • MEMORY (D.O.U.G._2) — a recurrent neural network trained on decades of the artists's drawing data.
  • COLLECTIVITY (D.O.U.G._3) — a multi-robotic system examining urban movement.
  • SPECTRALITY (D.O.U.G._4) — biofeedback from an EEG headset translates meditative states into robotic movement.
  • ASSEMBLY (D.O.U.G._5) — biofeedback and drawing data enacted through a multi-robotic system.
  • SPATIALITY (D.O.U.G._6) — dimensional mark-making as drawn sculpture.

Selected works

  • Praesentia Sculptures (2013) – 3D printed drawn sculptural prototypes printed in gold, made with custom software. Exhibited at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab 2013. Currently, they are prototypes for a forthcoming series examining dimensional mark making.
  • Embryo (Étude OP. 5, No. 5) (2015) – Mixed media, commissioned by OFFF for OFFF Unmasked.
  • Mimicry (Drawing Operations Unit: Generation 1) (2015) – An ongoing collaboration between an artist and a robotic arm.[45]
  • Praesentia (2015) – "As a pencil moves about the paper, its path is local and confined; freed from the need to consider the totality, it can respond immediately to "where the hand is now in praesentia.".[46]
  • Memory (Drawing Operations Unit: Generation 2) (2017) – Performance involving robotic memory.[47]
  • Omnia per Omnia (Drawing Operations Unit: Generation 3) (2018) – Collaborative drawing performance exploring the composite agency of an human and machine as a speculation on new pluralities.[48]
  • Exquisite Corpus (2019) – A performance installation exploring the feedback loop between bodies – the human body, the machinic body, and ecological bodies.[49]
  • Flora Rearing Agricultural Network (F.R.A.N.) (2020) – A performance and exhibition featuring the creation of a speculative blueprint for a new robotic network connected to nature.[50]
  • Assembly Lines (Drawing Operations Unit: Generation 5) (2022) – A performative installation featuring a custom multi-robotic system driven by meditation and biofeedback.[51]

References

  1. ↑ Marletta, Donata (23 July 2013). "Organic Form and Digital Visions. An Interview with Sougwen Chung". http://www.digicult.it/news/organic-forms-and-digital-visions-an-interview-with-sougwen-chung/. Retrieved 26 March 2017. 
  2. ↑ Thakkar, Avani (2024-09-24). "For Artist Sougwen Chung, A.I. Art Is Art and Technology Is Just Another Tool" (in en-US). https://observer.com/2024/09/interview-artist-sougwen-chung-robot-painting/. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Jebb, Louis (2025-01-17). "Sougwen Chung: meet the boundary-pushing pioneer of robot art" (in en). https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/01/17/sougwen-chung-meet-the-boundary-pushing-pioneer-of-robot-art. 
  4. ↑ Noergaard, Ulrik (30 June 2011). "Sougwen Chung". http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/10733/1/sougwen-chung. Retrieved 26 March 2017. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Sougwen Chung". http://fitc.ca/speaker/sougwen-chung/. Retrieved 4 March 2017. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Shin, Nara (11 April 2014). "Charged: Sougwen Chung". http://www.coolhunting.com/culture/interview-sougwen-chung. Retrieved 4 March 2017. 
  7. ↑ "Sougwen Chung – Artist Profile (Photos, Videos, Exhibitions)" (in en-US). https://aiartists.org/sougwen-chung. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Drawing Operations" (in en-US). https://docubase.mit.edu/project/drawing-operations/. 
  9. ↑ "Sougwen Chung – Artist Profile (Photos, Videos, Exhibitions)" (in en-US). https://aiartists.org/sougwen-chung. 
  10. ↑ "Sougwen Chung – Art Gallery" (in en). http://nips4creativity.com/art/sougwen-chung/. 
  11. ↑ "Drawing Operations Unit: Generation 1" (in ja). https://j-mediaarts.jp/en/award/single/drawing-operations-unit-generation-1/index.html. 
  12. ↑ "Sougwen Chung Wins Excellence Award at Japan Media Arts Festival 2016" (in en). https://www.seditionart.com/magazine/sougwen-chung-japan-media-arts. 
  13. ↑ "Sougwen Chung" (in en-US). World Science Festival. https://www.worldsciencefestival.com/participants/sougwen-chung/. 
  14. ↑ "Why I draw with robots". 25 November 2019. https://www.ted.com/talks/sougwen_chung_why_i_draw_with_robots#t-15227. 
  15. ↑ "The Algorithmic Gesture: Sougwen Chung's MEMORY • V&A Blog" (in en-US). 2022-12-14. https://www.vam.ac.uk/blog/digital/the-algorithmic-gesture-sougwen-chungs-memory. 
  16. ↑ "TIME100 AI 2023: Sougwen Chung" (in en). 2023-09-07. https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/6309455/sougwen-chung/. 
  17. ↑ "The TIME100 Impact Awards" (in en). https://time.com/collection/time100-impact-awards/. 
  18. ↑ "AI and robotics meet human creativity" (in en). https://www.weforum.org/videos/ai-and-robotics-meet-human-creativity/. 
  19. ↑ World Economic Forum – Annual Meeting 2025: What Happens When Humans and Robots Create Art Together
  20. ↑ "Friday Late: Wild Digits - Drop-in at V&A South Kensington · V&A" (in en). https://www.vam.ac.uk/event/k9xoYe3BdJ/friday-late-november-2024. 
  21. ↑ "Sougwen Chung: Assembly Lines" (in en). https://emmamuseum.fi/en/sougwen-chung-assembly-lines/. 
  22. ↑ "The Imitation Game: Visual Culture in the Age of Artificial Intelligence" (in en-US). https://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/exhibitions/the-imitation-game/. 
  23. ↑ Kirn, Peter (2013-06-11). "Sougwen Chung's Chiaroscuro Installation Breathes with Light and Hand-drawn Imagery" (in en-US). https://cdm.link/sougwen-chungs-chiaroscuro-installation-breathes-with-light-and-hand-drawn-imagery-2/. 
  24. ↑ "Sougwen Chung: BODY MACHINE (MERIDIANS)" (in de). https://meshfestival.ch/. 
  25. ↑ ArtScience Museum (2018-11-20). SEPTEMBER 2018 FULL PERFORMANCE | ArtScience Late: Sougwen Chung. Retrieved 2025-08-24 – via YouTube.
  26. ↑ "PROMTOSCAPE | Shanghai Minsheng Art Museum" (in zh-cmn-Hans). http://www.minshengart.com/en/index/exhibitions-and-events/exhibition/detail!ti-shi-zao-jing-Promptoscape-guo-ji-ren-gong-zhi-neng-yi-shu-wen-xian-zhan. 
  27. ↑ "Sougwen Chung: BODY MACHINE (MERIDIANS) › VRHAM" (in de-DE). 2025-04-29. https://www.vrham.de/sougwen-chung-body-machine-meridians/. 
  28. ↑ "NonSpaces" (in en). Akbank Sanat. https://www.akbanksanat.com/en/exhibition/yokyerler. 
  29. ↑ "TFI Interactive" (in en). https://www.tfiny.org/events/detail/tfi_interactive. 
  30. ↑ Internetstiftelsen (2014-11-24). Keynote: Sougwen Chung - Internetdagarna 2014. Retrieved 2025-08-24 – via YouTube.
  31. ↑ "Schedule". https://schedule.sxsw.com/2014/events/event_IAP18268. 
  32. ↑ "Sougwen Chung" (in en-US). https://grayareafestival.io/bio/sougwen-chung/. 
  33. ↑ Saini, Shivam. "This robotic arm draws almost as well as a human artist — because it sort of is one". https://www.businessinsider.com/robotic-arm-draws-by-mimicking-an-artists-movements-2015-7. 
  34. ↑ Dazed (2011-06-30). "Sougwen Chung" (in en). https://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/10733/1/sougwen-chung. 
  35. ↑ designboom, ravail khan I. (2023-03-28). "sougwen chung co-creates and meditates with multi-robotics through biosensors" (in en). https://www.designboom.com/art/sougwen-chung-installation-co-creates-meditates-multi-robotics-biosensors-assembly-lines-03-28-2023/. 
  36. ↑ Caballero, Ana María. "Web3 Travel Guides: Future Horizons, Art Dubai Digital And Beyond" (in en). https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2024/02/26/web3-travel-guides-future-horizons-art-dubai-digital-and-beyond/. 
  37. ↑ Mashable (2016-03-27). This Artist Built a Robot to Draw with Her | Mashable Docs. Retrieved 2025-08-24 – via YouTube.
  38. ↑ Gardels, Nathan (2022-08-26). "Introducing Noema Issue III: Rupture" (in en-US). Noema Magazine. https://www.noemamag.com/introducing-noema-issue-iii-rupture. 
  39. ↑ "Magazine- Sursuma | Sursuma%" (in en-US). https://www.sursuma.com/magazine/sougwen-chung. 
  40. ↑ "Where Does A.I. End and We Begin? (Published 2023)" (in en). 2023-12-07. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/07/special-series/artificial-intelligence-art.html. 
  41. ↑ CHOW, ANDREW R. (September 7, 2023). "Sougwen Chung". https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/6309455/sougwen-chung/. 
  42. ↑ Stinson, Liz. "What Artists Can Teach Us About Making Technology More Human" (in en-US). Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. https://www.wired.com/story/bell-labs-eat-only-human-mana-contemporary/. 
  43. ↑ "Browse Articles | Yishu Online" (in en-US). https://yishu-online.com/browse-articles/. 
  44. ↑ "Aktuell" (in de). https://kunstverein-heilbronn.de/. 
  45. ↑ "Drawing Operations (2015) – Sougwen Chung (愫君)" (in en-US). https://sougwen.com/project/drawing-operations. 
  46. ↑ "sougwen". http://sougwen.com/filter/selected. Retrieved 4 March 2018. 
  47. ↑ "Drawing Operations (2017) – Sougwen Chung (愫君)" (in en-US). https://sougwen.com/project/drawingoperations-memory. 
  48. ↑ "Omnia per Omnia (2018) – Sougwen Chung (愫君)" (in en-US). https://sougwen.com/project/omniaperomnia. 
  49. ↑ "Exquisite Corpus (2019) – Sougwen Chung (愫君)" (in en-US). https://sougwen.com/project/exquisite-corpus. 
  50. ↑ "F.R.A.N. Flora Rearing Agricultural Network (2020) – Sougwen Chung (愫君)" (in en-US). https://sougwen.com/project/florarearingagriculturalnetwork. 
  51. ↑ "Assembly Lines (2022) – Sougwen Chung (愫君)" (in en-US). https://sougwen.com/project/assembly-lines-2022. 
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