Christopher Kulendran Thomas is joined by Freya Salway, Head of the Lab at Google Arts & Culture, for a one-off in-person conversation held inside his major new exhibition, Safe Zone (on display at FACT until 11 May).

Christopher Kulendran Thomas' work explores the complex legacies of imperialism. A British artist of Sri Lankan-Tamil descent, Christopher has been using artificial intelligence technologies over much of the last decade to examine the foundational fictions of Western individualism. His new exhibition, Safe Zone - a collaboration with Annika Kuhlmann, features two bodies of work that manifest the historical mediums of soft power: a series of paintings that metabolise Sri Lanka’s colonial art history and a video work that auto-edits American television footage.

With the rapid acceleration of technology in the 21st century, this exhibition focuses on multiple turning points: one that was seen universally in real-time at the twilight of the broadcast age, another that transpired in its wake but was largely unseen by the outside world, and the third that we face now at the dawn of the era of AI. Safe Zone invites us to pay attention to how the effects of momentous events continue to ripple across time. 

Freya Salway is Head of the Lab at Google Arts & Culture, collaborating with artists, technologists, curators, scientists and cultural institutions globally to explore the application of advanced technologies for arts and culture. Since 2018, she has supported artistic experimentation with AI through residency programmes and bespoke collaborations, partnering with renowned artists, innovators and cultural organisations. She has also worked as an independent consultant, enabling artists, brands and broadcasters to deliver creative projects, and previously led arts partnerships for Sky Arts. 

Supported by the Goethe-Institut London.