A June 22, 2026 Metacreation Lab newsletter landed in my email box and here are some of the items that caught my attention,
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Philippe Pasquier Presents at SIAT [School of Interactive Arts and Technology] Graduate Research Colloquium Speaker Series
In February [2026], Metacreation Lab Director Dr. Philippe Pasquier was invited as one of the opening speakers for the SIAT Graduate Research Colloquium Spring Speaker Series. Hosted by the School of Interactive Arts and Technology at Simon Fraser University, the series brings together researchers and students to engage critically with emerging technologies and their broader cultural and social implications.
Philippe Pasquier Presents Laser Talk at Texas A&M University
Dr. Philippe Pasquier recently delivered a Laser [Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous Talk at Texas A&M University, exploring the artistic and aesthetic foundations of the Metacreation Lab’s work in creative AI. The talk situated contemporary generative AI within the broader histories of generative art and practice-led research, highlighting the diversity of AI approaches that extend beyond the current focus on large-scale commercial models.
The presentation was followed by an interdisciplinary discussion with faculty and students from across the arts and humanities, covering topics such as creativity, authorship, and the evolving role of AI in artistic practice.
New Mitacs Project Explores AI for Interactive Music Generation
The Metacreation Lab has launched a new Mitacs-funded research collaboration with Audiokinetic, the creators of the widely used Wwise interactive audio platform. Led by Metacreation Lab’s Master’s student Paul Triana under the supervision of Dr. Philippe Pasquier, the project explores new AI-driven workflows for adaptive music in video games and interactive media.
The research will develop a generative music pipeline that combines automatic music transcription, symbolic music generation, and neural audio synthesis to create seamless musical transitions and variations. By leveraging the lab’s recent advances in symbolic music AI, including MIDI-GPT, the project aims to provide composers and developers with more flexible and controllable tools for creating responsive soundtracks.
The collaboration will investigate how AI can support, rather than replace, human creativity, enabling richer interactive musical experiences while reducing production barriers for game developers and digital artists.
Mitacs-Funded Research Examines AI for Type 2 Diabetes Management
Researchers at the Metacreation Lab, in collaboration with Vancouver-based QiiQ Inc., have completed a Mitacs-funded scoping review investigating the current state of AI in consumer-facing mobile health applications for Type 2 diabetes management. The project, led by Metacreation Lab’s PhD student Dhruv Adhia with collaborators Dave Brown (QiiQ’s CEO) and Dr. Philippe Pasquier, analyzed 1,569 records across seven academic databases, ultimately synthesizing findings from 17 studies.
The review identified six major AI capability domains, including clinical decision support systems, AI-assisted dietary management, conversational AI, behavioural interventions, continuous glucose monitoring with AI coaching, and wearable sensor analytics. Across controlled studies, AI-supported interventions demonstrated meaningful improvements in diabetes management outcomes, including reductions in HbA1c levels.
The findings provide an evidence-based overview of which AI capabilities are currently demonstrating clinical value and which remain promising opportunities for future translation into consumer health products. The manuscript has completed supervisor review and is currently being prepared for journal submission.
Philippe Pasquier Discusses AI Literacy Beyond Polarization
Dr. Philippe Pasquier recently presented AI Literacy Beyond Polarization as part of the symposium Teaching AI: Art & Design Education Under Automation, organized by The Ohio State University.
The talk explored alternatives to the increasingly polarized debates surrounding generative AI, arguing for greater awareness of the diversity of creative AI approaches. Drawing on research and development at the Metacreation Lab, Philippe highlighted approaches centred on small data, model crafting, local and open-source tools, direct manipulation, and human-centred co-creation.
The presentation also featured Autolume, demonstrating how artists can train, adapt, and perform with their own generative models using small datasets and accessible workflows. The talk is now available online as part of the symposium’s public lecture series.
For those who are curious about Leonardo and Mitacs, First, I have a little more. Leonardo, from the About page,
Fearlessly pioneering since 1968, Leonardo serves as THE community forging a transdisciplinary network to convene, research, collaborate, and disseminate best practices at the nexus of arts, science and technology worldwide. Leonardo’ serves a network of transdisciplinary scholars, artists, scientists, technologists and thinkers, who experiment with cutting-edge, new approaches, practices, systems and solutions to tackle the most complex challenges facing humanity today.
As a not-for-profit 501(c)3 enterprising think tank, Leonardo offers a global platform for creative exploration and collaboration reaching tens of thousands of people across 135 countries. Our flagship publication, Leonardo, the world’s leading scholarly journal on transdisciplinary art, anchors a robust publishing partnership with MIT Press; our partnership with ASU infuses educational innovation with digital art and media for lifelong learning; our creative programs span thought-provoking events, exhibits, residencies and fellowships, scholarship and social enterprise ventures.
I believe the inspiration for the name is Leonardo da Vinci.
Mitacs is a nonprofit national research organization that, in partnerships with Canadian academia, private industry and government, operates research and training programs in fields related to industrial and social innovation.[1][2]
History
Mitacs was founded by Canadian mathematicians in 1999. The organization, whose name originally stood for “Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems”, worked in the field of mathematical sciences and associated disciplines but has since expanded. In 2004, the Mitacs Accelerate program was launched[3] and has since supported over 10,000 internships nationally.[4][5][6]
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So, they’ve gone from a mathematics network to industrial and social innovation.
The type 2 diabetes management project featuring QiiQ and Dave brown yielded a ‘narrative’ surprise, from the QiiQ Health About page,
Pioneering the narrative-led approach to metabolic health and diabetes reversal. We believe health shouldn’t be a subtraction game, but a journey of discovery.
Redefining care through storytelling
At QiiQ Health, we understand that behavioral change is hard. Traditional approaches often rely on willpower and deprivation, which rarely lead to lasting results.
That’s why we created the Quest Loop. By combining engaging storytelling with an emotionally resonant experience, we help you observe your health journey from a new perspective—one where you are the protagonist overcoming challenges, guided by experts and data.
CEO & Co-Founder
DAVE BROWN
Trained as an engineer, I spent my early career believing that logic and code could solve anything. But I’ve come to realize that the “Era of the Engineer” is closing. We are entering a new phase: The Era of the Artist.
My mission has always been to solve problems that cause human suffering. For years, I looked to technology for the fix. But in our ailing healthcare system, I’ve seen tech-driven solutions fall short because they lack a critical ingredient: humanity. True transformation won’t happen from within the system—it must come from the outside, led by patients themselves. Real change requires more than just better math; it requires novel, empathetic thinking. It is time for the engineers to step back and let the artists step forward.
Now, with AI beginning to change the world at lightspeed, we must carefully consider what we are ready to tolerate as people. And if we haven’t reached it already, we will soon confront a moment of truth – are we going to stay in charge of our destiny?
More on this later…
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The Era of the Artist? Interesting approach; I hope it’s successful and adopted.
The last one I’ve explored is Audiokinetic and it doesn’t present any real surprises, from its Wikipedia entry, Note: Links have been removed,
Audiokinetic Inc. is a Canadian software company based in Montreal, Quebec[3] that develops audio software for the video game industry. Its main product is Wwise audio authoring software. On January 8, 2019, Sony Interactive Entertainment announced that they had acquired the company.[4]
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More usually it’s a US company that does the acquiring, this time it was the Japanese multinational conglomerate, Sony.
[$60 CAD standard tickets available until 12 am PT June 25, 2926]
This is a monthly room to swap notes, demo work, and argue productively about the future.
Thirty months in a row.
That still sounds kind of fake to me, but here we are.
We started this thing in a room full of people trying to figure out what the hell was going on with AI. Artists, coders, founders, teachers, researchers, skeptics, people who were excited, people who were worried, people who were both.
Mostly both.
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That is still the point.
You can be amazed by these tools and still be mad about how they were trained.
You can build with AI and still care about artists, water, power, kids, consent, Indigenous data sovereignty, public memory, and who gets paid.
This month also has a featured conversation with Rick Glumac, B.C.’s Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence and New Technologies, on what he has seen over the past year as B.C. research, companies, creative tools, and public institutions all try to figure out what responsible AI actually looks like outside the white paper.
The point is a live local conversation about what B.C. is good at, what we are still missing, and how the people actually building with these tools can help shape the next layer of the ecosystem.
Builders in the lobby. Community in the dome. Weird demos. Robots if they behave. Robots if they don’t. People showing the stuff they are actually making, not pitching some imaginary future with a deck they made in the Uber.
The demo pit is back. Bring the half-working thing. Bring the prototype. Bring the workflow. Bring the local model. Bring the strange little tool you made because waiting for permission got boring.
The City That Keeps Showing Up
Also, yes, this is happening right in the middle of World Cup madness.
Canada plays Switzerland at noon at BC Place. By evening, the city will be full of jerseys, cops, tourists, barricades, branding, noise, money, and everyone trying to figure out who Vancouver belongs to this week.
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The Story So Far
January [2026] was Alexandra Samuel and Viv, Maya Bruck keeping vibe coders honest, Erica Lapadat-Janzen naming the soft violence hiding inside so-called ethics discourse.
February [2026] was MAC night, where we let the consciousness people take the wheel and asked what love, embodiment, synthetic empathy, and “real” even mean when language gets cheap.
March was Both Hands Full. AI is extractive, biased, thirsty, dangerous, powerful, useful, weird, and making a lot of us more creative than ever. All true. Then Lawrence brought robots, because of course he did.
April [2026] was ethics with teeth. Care, fairness, scams, governance, street-level wisdom, and what happens when we stop pretending productivity is the only thing worth measuring.
May [2026] was the AI commons. Internet Archive Canada. Rachel Horst’s anti-slop machine. Gabriel George opening the room. Public memory. Creative systems with fingerprints. The reminder that the commons does not build itself.
Anthony Joseph & Jonny Williams
Squamish Nation
Opening Ceremony: Grounding The Room
Anthony Joseph and Jonny Williams bring the opening grounding for Meetup #30, centering local relationship and respect for where we gather before the room accelerates into demos, policy, and future-talk.
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Honourable Rick Glumac
Minister of State for AI & New Technologies
Featured Talk: From Research To The Marketplace
From Research To The Marketplace: What I have witnessed over the past year as B.C.’s Minister of State for AI and New Technologies.
Rick Glumac, B.C.’s Minister of State for AI and New Technologies, brings a tech-sector and computer engineering background to government. He has worked across animation, video games, mobile apps, and public technology policy, and will speak about B.C. research moving toward market-ready companies, responsible AI, and how to grow the ecosystem without losing the plot.
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Anthonia Ogundele
Ethos Lab / Blackathon
Community AI Charters, Youth Power, And The Blackathon
Anthonia Ogundele is the founder of Ethos Lab, a STEAM innovation hub serving youth in K-12 education. Her work sits at the overlap of educational technology, equity, community values, and young people becoming creators and decision-makers, not just users of tools designed somewhere else.
Kris Krüg hosts Meetup #30 as a checkpoint for what this community has learned, what it is building, and what deserves protection as the machines get louder.
Creative Production, AI Animation, And The New Studio Layer
Mayumi Rollings is a Tiny Ghost Studios founder and Chief Executive Officer, bringing operational finance, people-first leadership, and creative studio infrastructure into the AI animation and production conversation.
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Aliza Schwartzman & Noa Titievsky
Slapd Treats
Food, Hospitality, And Community Care
Aliza Schwartzman and Noa Titievsky of Slapd Treats bring hospitality to the room. Food is not decoration here; it is part of how a community gets people talking, fed, and actually looked after.
Jackson Wu, aka Shyang, has been part of this community since the early meetups, opening rooms with a mic and the most analog instrument in the building: the human voice. Piano at five, a love of jazz and blues, a drum kit he couldn’t afford, so he taught his mouth to be one instead. By day he coaches people through the fear of speaking; by night he makes a room full of AI builders remember what live, unscripted, human-generated audio actually sounds like. No model. No prompt. No latency.
Come late. Leave early. Nobody keeps score.
No aggressive pitching.
No AI worship service.
No doom panel cosplay.
No gatekeeping.
Just real people trying to keep their ethics, creativity, humour, and agency intact while the machines get louder.
If you’re building, come.
If you’re skeptical, come.
If you’re confused, perfect.
If you’ve got a robot, absolutely bring the robot.
Kris Krüg & the Vancouver AI Community
The Flow
Doors at 6:00.
Program starts at 7:00.
Everybody out by 10:00.
Come late. Leave early. Nobody keeps score.
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Community Partners
Big thanks to the folks helping keep the lights on, the doors open, and the community infrastructure real:
Creative Mornings Vancouver: 14 years building Vancouver’s creative community since before “community building” was a LinkedIn buzzword, and they let us cross-pollinate networks because they get that rising tides lift all boats.
H.R. MacMillan Space Centre: Our venue partner who hosts us every month and does not kick us out when conversations run past 10 PM. They’re Vancouver’s gateway to innovation and space education, making science accessible to everyone from kids to cosmos-obsessed adults.
Ethos Lab: Vancouver’s Black + Indigenous youth-led studio on Main St where teens ship real products. Running AI Studios and Friday Night AI Experimentation Labs for BIPOC youth, plus the Blackathon honouring Hogan’s Alley.
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BC’s Minister of State for AI & New Technologies, Rick Glumac, was once a software developer, from his Wikipedia entry, Note: Links have been removed,
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Glumac worked much of his career in the field of computer graphics as a software developer, visual effects artist, and computer graphics supervisor.[8] He worked on the first computer-animated TV show ReBoot, and later worked for companies such as DreamWorks and Electronic Arts on well-known Hollywood films such as Shrek 2, Madagascar, and Over the Hedge.[8] Following this he developed apps for the iPhone.[7]
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I can’t recall the last time I saw a minister tasked with a technology portfolio who had any kind of relevant experience.
A May 14, 2026 notice 9received via email) from Simon Fraser University’s Metacreation Lab for creative AI provides information about the residency, which runs November 1 – 10, 2026,
Are you an artist based in France interested in exploring the intersection of music creation and artificial intelligence? Apply for the third edition of the Artificial Muse residency in Vancouver, Canada.
For its third edition, the “Artificial Muse” residency invites a French artist to explore and develop practices at the intersection between musical creation and artificial intelligence.
The Metacreation Lab for Creative AI will provide the selected artist with a space for reflection and work. In contact with local researchers, creators, and students, they will be able to develop a project using and appropriating the systems, equipment, and software from the research laboratory.
Application deadline: June 1, 2026 (11:59 p.m., Paris time)
Residency dates: November 1 – November 30, 2026
Location: Simon Fraser University (Surrey), BC, Canada
Eligibility:
Open to all musical and sound practices
Project combining music and artificial intelligence technologies
Project using MIDI as the main musical representation
Applicants must be at least 18 years old and have resided in France for at least 5 years
Proficiency in tools like Cubase, Ableton Live (Mac)
Launched in Vancouver in 2024 by the Embassy of France to Canada / Institut français du Canada as part of its “Résidences Ouest-Ouest” program, the Artificial Muse music creation and artificial intelligence residency is the result of a partnership with Simon Fraser University’s Metacreation Lab for Creative AI (School of Interactive Arts & Technology, Surrey) and the Centre for Digital Media (CDM, Vancouver).
This residency is open to any artist based in France who wishes to explore the intersections between music/sound creation and artificial intelligence. The residency offers artists the opportunity to work on a music or sound art project within a research and creation laboratory using cutting-edge AI and in contact with a local artistic and creative technologies ecosystem.
Simon Fraser University, through its Metacreation Lab for Creative AI in Surrey, and the Centre for Digital Media, a graduate-level digital arts institution located in Vancouver’s Creative District, provide the selected artist with a space for reflection and work. The artist will have access to local researchers, creators, and students, and will therefore be able to develop a project using the systems, equipment, and software from the research laboratory that they need to do so.
The residency also aims to enable French artists to expand their professional networks, create new synergies, and strengthen ties between France and Western Canada.
Open to artists of all practices (sound art, composition, performance, etc.) and musical genres, this residency allows French artists to immerse themselves in Vancouver’s local ecosystem in order to collaborate and enrich their practice.
[$40 CAD early tickets available until 11:59 pm PST April 15, 2026 *April 22, 2026* $60 CAD standard tickets available until 9:69 pm PST April 30, 2926]
Vancouver AI is a neural network of curious humans bridging creative and technical spaces. We cultivate a commons where community values shape governance and prototypes become shared tools.
This month, we bring the AI Ethical Futures Lab to the main stage with two talks that ask hard questions about how we measure what matters in the AI age.
In a world of black-box algorithms and corporate capture, we are cultivating a commons. A space where prototypes become shared tools and community values become governance. We move from ephemeral noise to perpetual knowledge.
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The Lineup
Chiyakselut aka Venessa Gonzales and Makaidea Gonzales: Squamish Nation
chiyakselut (Venessa Gonzales) and her daughter Makaidea Gonzales open with a Squamish West Coast traditional welcome song and blessing rooted in multi-generational knowledge.
Venessa’s lineage bridges three nations: Squamish, Musqueam, and Cree from Saskatchewan. She harvests traditional medicines and teas, creates salves for healing ailments, and practices traditional arts… glass etching, wool weaving, cedar weaving. She teaches traditional games, ensuring cultural knowledge flows to the next generation.
Makaidea’s presence embodies that flow: daughter learning alongside mother, carrying forward what ceremony means.
Martin Lopatka: Valtech “Rawlsian Agents: An Application of LLMs to Forge Fairer Bilateral Agreements”
Operationalizing John Rawls’ theory of justice through modern agentic workflows. Examining how AI systems can simulate contract negotiation while exploring both the promise and pitfalls of AI-mediated fairness.
Technology leader and applied researcher at Valtech working at the intersection of machine learning, AI ethics, and technology policy moving responsible AI from principle to practice in complex organizations. Ph.D. in forensic statistics from the University of Amsterdam.
Contributes to policy efforts including the EU AI Act, NIST AI RMF, and OWASP Top 10 for LLMs. Active in the privacy-enhancing technologies community.
Ethics for the AI Age: Current ethical frameworks struggle to evaluate AI systems that absorb massive resources while their impact on human flourishing remains unmeasured.
Sev introduces a quantifiable approach to moral accounting… frameworks for economic systems that measure care and relational contribution rather than productivity alone.
Co-Founder and VP of Engineering at PolarGrid, building North America’s first real-time AI inference compute network. Co-founded the Economy of Wisdom Foundation to develop alternative economic frameworks that measure care and fulfillment rather than traditional productivity metrics.
His work bridges 20+ years of scaling mission-critical systems with new economic paradigms for the AI transformation ahead.
Sev asks: what if we measured care instead of productivity? Martin asks: can AI help us be fairer? Same underlying question… different frameworks. Stay for the closing dialogue where they go head-to-head.
Two Vancouver students who turned a cookie side hustle into a legit operation. Aliza founded iBlush LipGloss; Noa has 200K+ TikTok followers. Together they run Slapd Treats and they’ve been feeding Vancouver AI since last year. Expect cookies.
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THE SPONSORS
Big thanks to the folks helping keep the lights on, the doors open, and the community infrastructure real:
Intellomx: Simon Haworth’s crew Intellomx is an AI-powered drug discovery platform that analyzes transcriptomic, genomic, and proteomic data to save up to 90% of pre-clinical development costs (recently joined J&J Innovation JLABS). Huge thanks for backing the ecosystem from the deep science end.
TheUpgrade.ai: AI training company walking the walk on democratizing AI skills: Fortune 500 workshops, creative pro certifications, and corporate training that doesn’t treat people like idiots. They help organizations and individuals harness AI to amplify creativity and accelerate learning through practical, hands-on training
Creative Mornings Vancouver: 14 years building Vancouver’s creative community since before “community building” was a LinkedIn buzzword, and they let us cross-pollinate networks because they get that rising tides lift all boats.
HR MacMillan Space Centre: Our venue partner who hosts us every month and doesn’t kick us out when conversations run past 10 PM. They’re Vancouver’s gateway to innovation and space education, making science accessible to everyone from kids to cosmos-obsessed adults.
Ethos Lab: Vancouver’s Black + Indigenous youth-led studio on Main St where teens ship real products. Running AI Studios + Friday Night AI Experimentation Labs (Jan–Jun 2026) for BIPOC youth (14–24), plus the Blackathon in February honouring Hogan’s Alley.
You can purchase your tickets from the April 29, 2026 event page. Enjoy!
The April 2026 issue of the Metacreation Lab for Creative AI newsletter (received via email) has an unusually heavy emphasis on Philippe Paquier’s (professor at Simon Fraser University’s School of Interactive Arts and Technology and director of the Metacreation Lab for Creative AI) activities,
Philippe Pasquier Presents on Creative AI at Digital Research Alliance Webinar
In February [2026], Dr. Philippe Pasquier, director of the Metacreation Lab, gave a webinar as part of the Humanities and Social Sciences series organized by the Digital Research Alliance of Canada. The talk explored how creative AI tools are enabling the partial or full automation of creative tasks and what these developments mean for artists, educators, students, and the creative industries.
The presentation introduced several generative systems developed at the Metacreation Lab for computer-assisted sound design, music composition, and visual generation. It also shared insights from evaluations conducted with the music software industry, examining issues such as user experience, ethics, sense of authorship, and technological acceptance.
Philippe Pasquier Presents on Creative AI and Co-Creation at UVic
As part of the Orion Lecture Series at the University of Victoria, Dr. Philippe Pasquier, director of the Metacreation Lab, gave a talk on Creative AI and Co-Creation. The presentation explored how AI systems can function as creative partners through co-creative tools for music and content generation. Pasquier highlighted the importance of small-data model crafting as an alternative to large cloud-based models, enabling artists to retain sovereignty, authorship, and aesthetic control over their work, while advocating for AI to be developed as a public utility that supports human creativity.
In late February, Metacreation Lab’s PhD candidate Arshia Sobhan and Dr. Philippe Pasquier led a two-day workshop on Autolume at the University of Victoria. The workshop introduced participants to Autolume, a visual AI system developed at the Metacreation Lab for artistic creation using small-data generative models. Artists, students, and researchers explored hands-on workflows for training and performing with custom models while maintaining creative control over their datasets and outputs.
Philippe Pasquier Participates in Canada’s National Summit on AI and Culture
Dr. Philippe Pasquier, director of the Metacreation Lab, participated as a Bridgebuilder at the National Summit on Artificial Intelligence and Culture, held March 16-17, 2026, in Banff, Alberta. The national gathering brought together leaders from the cultural sector, technology industry, research community, civil society, and government to discuss the future of AI in the arts and culture.
As part of the Summit’s Reflection Zones, Pasquier helped facilitate cross-sector discussions around the themes Build, Protect, and Empower, supporting dialogue and the development of practical ideas to guide future collaborations and policy considerations at the intersection of AI and culture in Canada. During the event, he also presented a demonstration of Autolume, showcasing the Metacreation Lab’s small-data approach to generative AI for artistic creation.
Submissions are now open for the 7th Conference on AI Music Creativity (AIMC 2026), which brings together researchers, artists, and technologists working on AI-assisted music creation, computational creativity, and creative AI systems. The conference will take place in September 2026 in Berlin. Dr. Philippe Pasquier serves as a member of the conference’s steering committee.
Abstract submission: April 4, 2026
Full paper, music, and tutorial submissions: April 18, 2026
Expanded 2026 – Conference on Animation and Interactive Art
The Expanded Conference on Animation and Interactive Art (Expanded 2026) invites submissions exploring animation, media art, and experimental moving image practices at the intersection of art, technology, and society. The conference will take place as part of the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria. Dr. Philippe Pasquier serves as a research track co-chair in this conference.
If you are curious about the [Canada] National Summit on Artificial Intelligence and Culture, I have more from participant Kris Krüg’s Dispatches from Canada’s First AI + Culture Summit, which can also be seen in my March 23, 2026 posting (scroll down about 25% of the way to the subhead titled: [Canada] National Summit on Artificial Intelligence and Culture.
Get Tickets [You have to go to the event page and click Get Tickets from there; Cost is CA$60.]
Vancouver AI is a neural network of curious humans. We bridge art galleries and research labs, corporate towers and garage workshops, because the future isn’t built in silos.
In a world of black-box algorithms and corporate capture, we are cultivating a commons. A space where prototypes become shared tools and community values become governance. We move from ephemeral noise to perpetual knowledge.
The Movement: BC AI Ecosystem Association: This gathering is a node in a much larger provincial mission. We are building the public-interest infrastructure for AI in British Columbia—ensuring that our local-first intelligence outlives its creators and powers the next era of West Coast innovation. We aren’t just “using” AI; we are defining how it lives here.
March 25 [2026]: This month, we bring the strategy down to earth, onto wheels, and across the big screen.
Lawrence Okolo (VASI [Vancouver Autonomous Systems Initiative] Lead): Beyond the screen. Lawrence is a Senior ML Engineer putting Large Language Models on wheels. He joins us to demo the latest in autonomous hardware built right here in Vancouver.
Mayumi Rollins (Tiny Ghost Studios): The AI Film Club is exploding.
Mayumi joins us to showcase the best of the BC + AI Film Club contests…. a highlight reel of the first three rounds of community animation… and to launch participation for Round 4.
Kris Krug (theupgrade.ai): Fresh from the Banff AI Summit, KK returns with a dispatch from the peaks.
Expect a high-fidelity synthesis of the national roadmap and a look at our “Coastal Immortality” vision.
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This brings me to the summit in Banff.
[Canada] National Summit on Artificial Intelligence and Culture
Here’s a description of the summit, which took place March 15 – 17, 2026 and was invitation-only,. From the government of Canada’s event page, Note: Links have been removed,
About the Summit
The National Summit on Artificial Intelligence and Culture, presented in partnership with the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, will convene leaders from the cultural, government, technology, academic, and civil society sectors to shape a shared vision for the future of culture in the age of artificial intelligence.
The Three Pillars of the Summit
Build
Building AI-powered tools that respond to the needs of creators and cultural industries.
Empower
Empowering the Cultural Sector through AI Adoption, Talent, and Training.
Protect
Protecting creativity by taking steps to make artificial intelligence solutions responsible, reliable, and supportive of human creation.
An Interactive and Collaborative Experience
The Summit will offer a highly interactive experience designed to foster active engagement and collaboration. Each pillar will begin with leadership remarks followed by expert panels from various sectors, exploring practical applications and real-world challenges. Interactive reflection sessions will allow participants to share ideas, contribute to action-oriented solutions, and engage in cross-sector dialogue. An AI showcase will highlight practical tools supporting the cultural sector. The program will also include formal and informal networking opportunities to encourage exchanges and partnerships.
Event details
Date
March 15, 16 and 17, 2026
Location
Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity Banff, Alberta
Agenda
March 15 – Opening Evening
Registration and welcome
Opening ceremony, including a land acknowledgment
Opening keynote address
March 16 – Build and Protect
Opening plenary session
Welcome remarks and Summit overview
Opening addresses by federal ministers
Pillar 1: Build
Building AI-powered tools that respond to the needs of creators and cultural industries.
Expert keynote
Expert panel
Interactive reflection zones and collaborative sessions
Pillar 2: Protect
Protecting creativity by taking steps to make artificial intelligence solutions responsible, reliable, and supportive of human creation
Expert keynote
Expert panel
Evening showcase
March 17 – Equip and Advance
Pillar 2: Protect (continued)
Interactive reflection zones and collaborative sessions
Pillar 3: Empower
Empowering the Cultural Sector through AI Adoption, Talent, and Training.
Expert keynotes
Expert panel
Interactive reflection zones and collaborative sessions
BC + AI Executive Director Kris Krug reports from the National Summit on AI and Culture at the Banff Centre. Indigenous AI, YouTube creators at the policy table, and what happens when 233 people try to figure out AI and culture at 5,000 feet.
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Opening Night: Kind Electricity
The summit opened not with a minister or a CEO but with Shani Gwin, founder of Pipikwan Pêhtâkwan, presenting Wasgun, an Indigenous-led AI tool built to do something I’ve never heard an AI tool described as doing: protect Indigenous people online while educating everyone else about how to talk and work with them appropriately.
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Here’s what wâsikan kisewâtisiwin does: it functions as a browser plugin and document assistant that identifies misinformation, bias, and racism directed at Indigenous people. For Indigenous users, it blurs harmful content so you can safely browse the internet without reading terrible things about yourself or your family.
For everyone else, it’s what Shani calls “a really good intern,” underlining problems in your writing, suggesting corrections, pointing you back to community when the answer isn’t something AI should be providing.
The name came through ceremony. Elder Theresa Strawberry, who didn’t know what the company did at the time, gave them a name that translates to “kind electricity” or “kind energy.” The teaching: traditionally, thunder was a loving sound for Indigenous people. It meant rain was coming. Sustenance. Cleansing. But newcomers to these lands get scared of the thunder. “We have to teach them not to be scared,” Elder Theresa said. “It’s a loving sound. It’s a loving energy.”
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Shani took that and ran: “A lot of people are scared of AI and it can be a kind tool, a kind and loving tool if we build it with those values and that intention and we take our time.”
Wasgun partnered with Amii (Alberta’s national AI institute) and here’s the part that stuck with me: Amii’s team, including CEO Cam Linke, has come to ceremony with Wasgun’s elders. Not a photo op. Not a one-time land acknowledgment. They go regularly to make sure they’re on the right track, that theyhave approval to keep going. I’ve seen a lot of “Indigenous partnerships” in tech. This is the first one I’ve encountered where the AI institute shows up for ceremony.
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Then Shani went somewhere I didn’t expect. She started talking about matriarchal AI.
“They’re saying this is becoming sentient and it’s blackmailing people,” she said. “I thought, okay, it’s a patriarchal, hierarchical white tool. What would we need to combat that? An anti-AI. One that’s gonna whack that other AI at the back of the head and say, settle down.”
If you ask OpenAI for an organizational chart, you get a pyramid. Wasgun might give you a flower. Pipikwan Pêhtâkwan’s actual org model, where each person is their own flower, connected but autonomous, with leadership that exists to make sure everyone else succeeds. Matriarchal AI would provide different knowledge systems as equals, not rank colonial knowledge as the default right answer.
“What if we moved slow like a sloth,” Shani said, “and we thought of seven generations forward and backward? What if we made our decisions based on impact? Let’s not move fast and break the earth.”
And then, the line that I think defines this entire summit: “Success is not an individual endeavor. There’s room for everyone.”
At BC + AI, we opened our first community event with a Squamish ceremony. We have Carol Anne Hilton (CEO of the Indigenomics Institute) on our board with full governance authority. We believe in ceremony-grounded, relationship-first development. Hearing Shani articulate the same values, from a completely different nation and a completely different project, at a federal summit, that felt like confirmation that this approach isn’t niche. It’s the future.
Where the Summit Actually Happens
If you’ve been to enough conferences, you know: the real summit happens at breakfast. The panels are for the record. The meals are for the relationships.
I showed up to the Vista dining room in what I’m calling the Canada tuxedo, full denim, because if you’re meeting with Canada’s culture leaders, you commit to the bit, and sat down at a table with three YouTube creators and a guy from Alberta who makes Excel tutorials.
That’s not a joke. Jamie Keet runs Teacher’s Tech, a YouTube channel with 1.1 million subscribers. His big break? A Microsoft Excel tutorial. Then COVID hit and everyone in the world suddenly needed to learn how to make a Zoom call, and Jamie became everyone’s unofficial IT support. Ten years of consistency, one or two videos a week, twins at home, and now he’s at a national AI summit alongside the head of the Canada Media Fund and a federal minister.
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Who’s in the Room (and Who Isn’t)
Here’s what I can tell you about the 233 people at this summit: it’s a mix of old guard and new voices, and the tension between them is the most interesting thing happening.
On one side: the Canada Media Fund, SOCAN, ACTRA, the Writers Guild, Access Copyright, the Canadian Media Producers Association, the institutional infrastructure of Canadian culture. These organizations control funding, negotiate rights, lobby government, and set the terms for how cultural workers get paid. They’ve been doing it for decades, and AI is the biggest disruption they’ve ever faced.
On the other: YouTube creators, AI startups, digital media companies, tech educators, independent artists. People who built careers outside the traditional system and are now being invited to help figure out what comes next.
In between: the federal government. Minister Evan Solomon (AI and Digital Innovation), Minister Marc Miller (Canadian Identity and Culture), and a cast of deputy ministers, directors general, and policy advisors who will write the actual rules.
BC sent eight organizations. We identified 24 BC connections in the attendee list before we arrived, everyone from Philippe Pasquier at SFU’s Metacreation Lab to Catherine Winder at Wind Sun Sky Entertainment to Prem Gill at Creative BC to Loc Dao at DigiBC. That’s not accidental. We did our homework.
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What’s missing: any BC provincial government representation. Alberta’s here. Quebec’s here. Ontario’s here. PEI sent someone. But BC, a province with 645 respondents to the federal AI Task Force consultation, second only to Ontario, didn’t send anyone from Victoria. That gap is worth noting.
And one specific person worth naming: David Myles, MP for Fredericton-Oromocto. Two-time Juno Award winner. Music artist turned politician. Entertainment background with applicable context for this conversation. I had him on my target list before I arrived, and when someone at breakfast identified him across the dining room, I knew I’d picked the right table.
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The BC Bench
I want to talk about some of the BC people, projects and orgs here…. because these are the people doing the work, and a summit like this is where their work gets seen at the national level.
Philippe Pasquier is a professor at SFU’s School for Interactive Arts and Technology and the director of the Metacreation Lab for Creative AI. He’s been doing AI art research since 2008, before most people in this room knew what a neural network was.
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Anthonia Ogundele runs Ethos Lab on Main Street in Vancouver, a Black and Indigenous youth center doing real creative work with real tech and real youth. This isn’t an afterschool homework club. Her team shipped a sleep-tracking mobile game built by 16-year-olds. She’s running an AI Experimentation Club where kids aged 14 to 24 learn what AI is, how it works, and when not to use it.
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Jesse McKee is Head of Digital Strategy at 221A, which operates 140,000 square feet of cultural space across nine properties in Vancouver. Jesse’s a friend and collaborator. He’s building a Web3 and AI hub that could become a permanent cultural infrastructure for the kind of work this summit is talking about. 221A isn’t waiting for federal funding to start. They’re doing it. When I think about what a creative AI ecosystem actually needs: physical space, institutional support, community programming, Jesse and 221A are already providing it.
Loc Dao is Executive Director of DigiBC, the industry association for BC’s creative technology sector. That’s 250-plus companies in games, animation, VFX, and virtual production. Every major studio and hundreds of indie shops. Loc isn’t here to talk about AI in the abstract. The people he represents are already building with it, shipping products, hiring around it. When this summit talks about BUILD, Loc knows exactly which companies are ready to move and what they need from Ottawa to do it.
Four people. Four completely different approaches to AI and culture. A researcher proving consent-based training works. A community leader putting AI tools in the hands of Black and Indigenous youth. A cultural infrastructure builder creating permanent space for this work. And the head of an industry association whose members are already shipping AI products. All from BC.
But this isn’t only a BC story. Some of the most important people at this summit are from Eastern Canada.
Ana Serrano, President and Vice Chancellor of OCAD University, is on the BUILD panel. Ana and I have been collaborating on the Democracy Exchange Conference, working on their AI programming together. She’s already sent several OCADU staff through our AI Upgrade for Creative Professionals program. That’s not a summit handshake. That’s a working relationship, and it predates this gathering.
Sarah Spring, ED [executive director] of Canadian Journalism Collective, former Executive Director of the Documentary Organization of Canada, co-founder of Parabola Films. Sarah and I first met in Banff twenty years ago, before AI, before YouTube, before any of this. She represents the best of Canadian cultural infrastructure. Doubled DOC’s membership to 1,500. Put a 50% IBPOC [sic] board mandate in place.
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What We’re Watching For
The summit is organized around three pillars: BUILD (research partnerships), EMPOWER (training and adoption), and PROTECT (policy tools to manage risks). These map roughly to the same tension I keep seeing in federal AI strategy: how do you protect existing cultural workers from AI disruption while also empowering new creators and building the next generation of tools?
I’ll be honest about what I’m worried about. When I said at breakfast that “Solomon wants to champion the champion, they want to put their money behind scale, there’s very little interest in innovation at the grassroots level,” I meant it. That’s the pattern. Federal strategy picks winners, funds the established players, and hopes innovation trickles down. The Task Force evidence backs this up: 645 BC respondents, zero recognition in the final reports.
But this summit has an opening. Shani Gwin’s presentation wasn’t a grassroots afterthought, it was the keynote. YouTube creators aren’t in a breakout room, they’re at the main table. The question is whether that inclusiveness survives contact with the policy-making process, or whether the final recommendations default to protecting incumbents.
We’re watching. And we’re here with research, relationships, and receipts.
Paul Deegan, president and CEO (chief executive officer) News Media Canada, in a March 20, 2026 comment (AI’s use of news content must come with a cost; p. NP 2) published in the National Post argues that tech companies should bear some of the costs of covering news rather scraping ‘free’ content for AI from traditional media sites,
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We embrace and fully support the responsible and ethical use of artificial intelligence. Our newsrooms are deploying AI to boost efficiency and accuracy, while improving reader experience.
Real news is the antidote to the disinformation and misinformation crisis which is fuelled by AI and social media. Real news – created by real journalists who adhere to codes of ethics – is expensive to create. Fact-gathering, fact-checking, editorial and legal review, and being accountable cost real money.
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Moving from culture and media to democracy.
AI, Democracy & Digital Rights Forum on April 16, 2026 in Toronto, Ontario
The Canadian Science Policy Centre (CSPC) is co-hosting, along with The Dais (public policy and leadership think tank at Toronto Metropolitan University), OCAD [Ontario College of Art and Design] University, and others: AI, Democracy & Digital Rights Forum: an EU [European Union] Hub Ontario Initiative in person, panel event. From a March 19, 2026 CSPC announcement received via email),
AI, Democracy & Digital Rights Forum – April 16, 2026
CSPC is excited to announce the AI, Democracy & Digital Rights Forum, taking place on April 16, 2026 (12:00–5:00 PM, TBC) at the Université de l’Ontario français, 9 Lower Jarvis St, Toronto. Join us for an in-person forum [emphasis mine] bringing together Canadian and European leaders to explore the intersection of artificial intelligence, democracy, and human rights. Hosted by CSPC under the EU Hub Ontario, this event will foster cross-sector dialogue on advancing digital innovation while safeguarding ethical and legal standards.
Here’s more about this in person event from the event page, Note: Links have been removed,
Université de l’Ontario françaisToronto, ON
Thursday, Apr 16 [2026] from 12 pm to 5 pm
Overview
Half-day forum convened under the European Union Hub in Ontario initiative
The AI, Democracy & Digital Rights Forum is a half-day forum convened under the European Union Hub in Ontario initiative and organized by the Canadian Science Policy Centre (CSPC), in partnership with The Dais, OCAD University, and others.
Taking place on April 16, 2026, at the Université de l’Ontario français in Toronto, the Forum will bring together policymakers, researchers, industry leaders, civil-society organizations, and international partners to explore the intersection of artificial intelligence, democracy, and digital rights.
The event marks an exciting new chapter in the EU’s presence in Ontario. It offers a unique platform for exchanging Canadian and European perspectives in the context of the EU–Canada Digital Partnership Council. Together, participants will explore ways to strengthen democratic institutions, promote civic participation, and advance trusted digital innovation in bilateral cooperation. Discussions will foster cross-sector dialogue between European and Canadian stakeholders on how to advance collaboration in artificial intelligence and digital technologies while safeguarding ethical, legal, and human-rights standards.
Topics, among others, will include:
Ethical, social, and legal dimensions of digital governance
EU–Canada approaches to AI regulation and innovation
Digital rights, data governance, and public trust
The role of industry, civil society, and youth in shaping the digital future
Responsible AI adoption across the economy and society
The Forum will feature panel discussions, policy dialogue, and networking opportunities as part of the broader DemocracyXChange 2026 Summit in Toronto.
For more information or questions related to this event, please email: info@sciencepolicy.ca
The 7th edition of Canada’s premier democracy summit returns to Toronto on April 16-18, 2026 at Toronto Metropolitan University and OCAD U. Join us for three days of keynote speakers, panels and workshops, created to both examine and tackle today’s most urgent civic issues.
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Lots of food for thought and opportunities to participate.
There’s a local (Vancouver, Canada) event coming up, as well as, a call for papers, an opportunity to watch a workshop presented in Toronto, Montréal, and Berlin and more in these highlights from the April 2025 issue of the Metacreation Lab for Creative AI newsletter (received via email). The first items are being listed in date order.
Ars Electronica and Vancouver AI [artificial intelligence] Community Meetup
From the April 2025 Metacreation Lab newsletter,
Call for Papers – EXPANDED 2025 at Ars Electronica
The 13th edition of the EXPANDED Conference, focusing on animation and interactive art, will be held from September 3–5, 2025, at the Ars Electronica Center in Linz, Austria, as part of the Ars Electronica Festival.
Organized in cooperation with ACM [Association for Computing Machinery], the conference invites submissions in categories of Research Papers and Art Papers. Topics of interest include AI-generated images, generative art, virtual production, human-AI collaboration, XR, and more.
Vancouver AI – April 30 [2025] at the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre
Metacreation Lab has proudly supported the Vancouver AI Community Meetup since the beginning. This time, Mission #16 of BC’s vibrant AI community meetup series. This edition features a talk by Philippe Pasquier, exploring the latest in generative and creative AI systems.
Also on the lineup is a special performance by K-PHI-A, a live trio featuring Philippe, PhD student Keon Ju Maverick Lee, and VJ Amagi (Jun Yuri). Their piece, Revival, is an improvisational audiovisual performance where human musicians and AI agents co-create in real time. It blends percussion, electronics, and AI-driven visuals using Autolume and other systems developed at the Metacreation Lab.
Ars Electronica started life as a festival in 1979 still being produced annually and is now a larger enterprise. From the Ars Electronica About webpage,.Note Links have been removed
Art, Technology, Society
We have been analyzing and commenting on the Digital Revolution since 1979. Since then, we have been developing projects, strategies and competencies for the Digital Transformation. Together with artists, scientists, technologists, designers, developers, entrepreneurs and activists from all over the world, we address the central questions of our future. The focus is on new technologies and how they change the way we live and work together.
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A new festival. The first Ars Electronica begins on September 18, 1979. 20 artists and scientists from all over the world gather at this new “Festival for Art, Technology and Society” in Linz to discuss the Digital Revolution and its possible consequences. This Ars Electronica is small, but groundbreaking. The initiative for this came from Hannes Leopoldseder (AT), director of the Upper Austria regional studio of the Austrian Broadcasting Company (ORF), who is passionate about everything that has to do with the future. Together with the electronic musician Hubert Bognermayr (AT), the music producer Ulli A. Rützel (DE) and the cyberneticist and physicist Herbert W. Franke (AT), he lays the foundation stone for a festival that will become the world’s largest and most important of its kind.
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Between art, technology and society. Over the past four decades, a number of pioneers have turned Ars Electronica into a creative ecosystem that now enjoys a worldwide reputation.
Since 1979 we celebrate once a year the Ars Electronica Festival. More than 1,000 artists, scientists, developers, designers, entrepreneurs and activists are coming to Linz, Austria, to address central questions of our future. For five days, everything revolves around groundbreaking ideas and grand visions, unusual prototypes and innovative collaborations, inspiring art and groundbreaking research, extraordinary performances and irritating interventions, touching sounds and rousing concerts.
Since 1987 we have been awarding the Prix Ars Electronica every year. With several competition categories, we search for groundbreaking projects that revolve around questions of our digital society and rehearse the innovative use of technologies, promising strategies of collaboration and new forms of artistic expression. The best submissions will receive a Golden Nica, considered by the global media art scene to be the most traditional and prestigious award ever.
Since 1996 we have been working at the Ars Electronica Center year after year with tens of thousands of kindergarten children, pupils, apprentices and students on questions concerning the ever-increasing digitalization of our world. The focus is on the potential of the next Game Changer: Artificial Intelligence.
Also since 1996 we operate the Ars Electronica Futurelab, whose international and interdisciplinary team of artists and scientists is researching the future. With interactive scenarios, we prepare central aspects of the Digital Revolution for the general public in order to initiate a democratic discourse.
1998 we initiated create your world. The year-round programme is developed together with young people and includes a competition for under 19 year olds, a festival of its own and a tour through the region. We see create your world as an invitation and challenge at the same time and want to encourage young people to leave the role as mere users of technology behind, to discover new possibilities of acting and designing and to implement their own ideas.
2004 we started Ars Electronica Export with a big exhibition in New York. Since then we have been to Abuja, Athens, Bangkok, Beijing, Berlin, Bilbao, Brussels, Buenos Aires, Doha, Florence, Kiev, London, Madrid, Mexico City, Moscow, Mumbai, Osaka, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo, Tunis, Venice and Zaragoza. Together with partners from art and culture, science and education, business and industry, we organize exhibitions and presentations, conferences and workshops, performances and interventions at all these locations.
Since 2013 our team at Ars Electronica Solutions has been developing market-ready products inspired by visions and prototypes from the artistic cosmos of Ars Electronica. We develop innovative, individual and interactive products and services for exhibitions, brands, trade fairs and events.
Since 2016 we are active all year round in Japan. Especially in Tokyo and Osaka we work together with leading Japanese universities, museums and companies, develop and present artistic projects, design workshop series and Open Labs and dedicate ourselves to the future of our digital society in conferences.
In order to actively shape the digital revolution, people are needed who have a feel for change and recognize connections, develop new strategies and set a course. This is precisely where the 2019 created Future Thinking School aims to support companies and institutions.
Whether at home in the living room or in the office, whether in the classroom or in the lecture hall, in the streetcar or subway, on the train – from everywhere Home Delivery accompanies our virtual visitors on an artistic-scientific journey into our future since 2020.
All our activities since September 18, 1979 have been documented in the form of texts, images and videos and stored in the Ars Electronica Archive. This archive provides us with a unique collection of descriptions and documentations of more than 75,000 projects from four decades of Ars Electronica.
The Expanded Conference (Expanded 2025) will take place from September 3rd to 5th as part of the Ars Electronica Festival 2025. This call for paper focuses on academic papers in the field of Expanded Animation and Interactive Art that explore and experiment with visual expression at the intersection of art, technology, and society. We will have two categories (Research Paper and Art Paper), where submissions will undergo a rigorous review process. All selected speakers will be given a free pass to the Ars Electronica Festival (September 3rd to 7th).
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
3D Scanning
AI-generated Images
AI-based artworks
Artistic Computer Animation
Art & Science collaboration projects
Audio-visual Experiments
Data Journalism and Animated Documentary
Data Visualizations
Digital Media Art History
Digital, Hybrid, and Expanded Theater
Expanded Animation
Generative Art
Human-AI interaction and Human-AI collaboration
Hybrids between Animation and Game
Media Facades
Music Visualization
New approaches to artistic research and practice-based methodologies
Participatory art projects
Performance Projects
Playful Interactions and Experiences
Projection Mapping
Projects using NFT, Metaverse, Social Media
Reactive and Interactive audio/visual Work
Real-time CG
Scientific Visualizations
Site-specific Installations
Sound Art and Soundscapes
Tangible Interfaces and New Forms of Experiences
Transmedia Narratives
Virtual Humans and Environments
Virtual Production
VR, AR, MR, XR
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Again, the submission date for your paper is April 27, 2025. Good luck!
Vancouver AI Community Meetup
Prepare yourself for some sticker shock. Tickets for the meetup are listed at $63.00. As noted earlier, there will be a “talk by Philippe Pasquier, exploring the latest in generative and creative AI systems.and a special performance by K-PHI-A, a live trio featuring Philippe, PhD student Keon Ju Maverick Lee, and VJ Amagi (Jun Yuri). Their piece, Revival, is an improvisational audiovisual performance where human musicians and AI agents co-create in real time.”
Here’s more about Vancouver AI meetups in a video, which appears to have been excerpted from the March 2025 meetup,
We Don’t Do Panels. We Do Portals. Vancouver AI: March 2025 Recap
This wasn’t a meetup. It was a lightning strike. A 3-hour detonation of mind, matter, and machine where open-source fire met ancestral spirit, and the UFO building lit up like a neural rave.
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⚡ What Went Down:
Damian George (Steloston) & his son Ethan kicked the night off with a warrior’s welcome—Indigenous songs from Tsleil-Waututh territory that cracked open the veil and set the frequency.
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Cai & Charlie spun lo-fi beats with a side of C++ sorcery. DIY synths, live visuals, and analog rebellion powered by AI hacks and imagination. This is what machine-human symbiosis sounds like.
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Michael Tippett dropped cinematic subversion with Mr. Canada, a gonzo AI-generated political series where satire meets social critique and deepfakes become truth bombs. (The king has a button that disables the F-35 fleet—yeah, that happened.)
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Cian Whalley, Zen priest & CTO, took us beyond the binary—teaching us how emotion, code, and consciousness intersect like neural lace. Toyota factory metaphors and Digital Buddha hotlines included.
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Philippe Pasquier, the SFU professor we don’t deserve, taught us how to train your own AI models on your art. No scraping, no stealing. Just artists owning their data and their destiny. Bonus: transparent LED cubes and a revival performance next month with AI-powered music agents. 🔮🎶
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Michelle from Women X AI showed us what a real grassroots intelligence network looks like: 45+ women in tech meeting monthly, giving back to the DTES, and building equity into the foundation of AI.
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Niels showed us what radical vulnerability looks like—raw stories of startup survival, burnout, almost crashing (literally), and choosing sustainable hustle over hypergrowth hype.
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Loki Jorgensen repped the new Mind, AI, and Consciousness crew—channeling 2,000 years of philosophical grind into one big ontological jam session. Curious cats only.
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Patrick Pennefather & Kevin the Pixel Wizard rolled out UBC’s AI video lab with student creators turning prompts into art and AI into cinema. Kevin’s mentorship = 🔥.
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Brittany Smila, our resident poet laureate, slayed the crowd with a poem that read like a bootleg instruction manual for being human. Typos included. Plum cake recipes too.
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Darby stepped up with real UX [user experience design] energy—running card sorts and mapping our collective brain to build a proper web infrastructure for the VAI [Vancouver artificial intelligence] hive mind. Web3 who?
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Rival Technologies’ Julia & Dale announced our first-ever Data Storytelling Hackathon. $2,500 prize, survey data that slaps, and a chance to show how AI can amplify truth instead of burying it. (Brittany wrote the hot dog prompt, you’re welcome.)
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Cloud Summit’s YK Sugi, Bibi Souza & Andre made waves repping an all-volunteer, all-heart community cloud event coming in hot during Web Summit week. Code meets care. Sponsors fund causes. Real ones only. Fergus dropped serious policy weight—WOSK Centre for Dialogue BC AI report now live. If you want a seat at the government table, this is your guy.
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Kushal closed the night with a flamethrower. Called out UBC’s xenophobic DeepSeek ban. Defended open-source warriors from China and France (💥shoutout Mistral). No prisoners. No apologies. Just truth. –
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Khayyam Wakil wrapped it all up with the keynote of the night: a design rebel’s journey from Saskatoon boats to LA VR labs to immersive media Emmys. Lessons in surrender, reinvention, and the real art of quitting right. 🔥
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📍Location: H.R. MacMillan Space Centre — Vancouver, BC (aka the UFO mothership)
🪐 Astronomers on deck. Observatories open till 11. Community stays weird till 10. 🎧 Full audio, speaker list & projects: vancouver.bc-ai.net
🎟️ Next portal opens May 28: lu.ma/VAI17 🖤❤️✊🔥🏴
We don’t do TED Talks. We host real-time cultural reckonings. This is AI for the people—and it’s only getting louder. Bring your edge. Bring your stickers. Bring your weird.
You can go here to get your ticket for the April 30, 2025 Vancouver AI Community Meetup and to find out about more about some of the AI events in Vancouver. You may want to check out the possibility of getting an annual pass or membership in the hope of making attendance more affordable.
Two papers and two workshop recordings from the Metacreation Lab
From the April 2025 Metacreation Lab newsletter,
Missed the Autolume Workshop? Watch It Online Now
After holding Autolume workshops in Toronto, Montreal, and Berlin, we brought the Autolume workshop online earlier in April, and the recordings are now available.
Whether you’re new to Autolume or want a refresher, this hands-on session walks you through training your own generative models, creating real-time visuals, and exploring interactive art, all without writing a single line of code.
The Metacreation Lab will be at ISEA 2025 with both a paper presentation and a live performance.
PhD student Arshia Sobhan, with Dr. Philippe Pasquier and Dr. Gabriela Aceves-Sepúlveda, will present “Broken Letters, Broken Narratives: A Case Study on Arabic Script in DALL-E 3”. This critical case study examines how text-to-image generative AI systems, such as DALL-E 3, misrepresent Arabic calligraphy, linking these failures to historical biases and Orientalist aesthetics.
In collaboration with sound artist Joshua Rodenberg, Arshia will also present “Reprising Elements,” an audiovisual performance combining Persian calligraphy, sound art, and generative AI powered by Autolume. This performance is an artistic endeavour that celebrates the fusion of time-honoured techniques with modern advancements.
Our paper “MIDI-GPT: A Controllable Generative Model for Computer-Assisted Multitrack Music Composition” is now officially published in the proceedings of the 39th AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence.
MIDI-GPT leverages Transformer architecture to infill musical material at both track and bar levels, with controls for instrument type, style, note density, polyphony, and more. Our experiments show it generates original, stylistically coherent compositions while avoiding duplication from its training data. The system is already making waves through industry collaborations and artistic projects.
There’s some exciting news for people interested in Ars Electronica (see more below the newsletter excerpt) and for people who’d like to explore some of the same work from the Metacreation Lab in a locale that may be closer to their homes, there’s an exhibition on Saltspring Island, British Columbia. Here are details from SFU’s Metacreation Lab newsletter, which hit my mailbox on July 22, 2024,
Metacreation Lab at Ars Electronica 2024
We are delighted to announce that the Metacreation Lab for Creative AI will be part of the prestigious Ars Electronica Festival. This year’s festival, titled “HOPE – who will turn the tide,” will take place in Linz [Austria’ from September 4 to 8.[2024]
Representing the School of Interactive Arts and Technology (SIAT), we will showcase four innovative artworks. “Longing + Forgetting” by Philippe Pasquier, Matt Gingold, and Thecla Schiphorst explores pathfinding algorithms as metaphors for our personal and collective searches for solutions. “Autolume Mzton” by Jonas Kraasch and Philippe Pasquier examines the concept of birth through audio-reactive generative visuals. “Dreamscape” [emphasis mine] by Erica Lapadat-Janzen and Philippe Pasquier utilizes the Autolume system to train AI models with the artist’s own works, creating unique stills and video loops. “Ensemble” by Arshia Sobhan and Philippe Pasquier melds traditional Persian calligraphy with AI to create dynamic calligraphic forms.
MMM4Live Official Release; Generative MIDI in Ableton Live
We are ecstatic to release our Ableton plugin for computer-assisted music composition! Meet MMM4Live, our flexible and generic multi-track music AI generator. MMM4Live embeds our state-of-the-art music transformer model that allows generating fitting original musical patterns in any style! When generating, the AI model considers the request parameters, your instrument choice, and the existing musical MIDI content within your Ableton Live project to deliver relevant material. With this infilling approach, your music is the prompt!
We, at the Metacreation Lab for Creative AI at Simon Fraser University (SFU), are excited about democratizing and pushing the boundaries of musical creativity through academic research and serving diverse communities of creatives.
For additional inquiries, please do not hesitate to reach out to pasquier@sfu.ca
We are excited to announce that “Dreamscape,” a collaboration between Erica Lapadat-Janzen and Philippe Pasquier, will be exhibited at the Provocation exhibition from July 6th to August 10th, 2024.
In response to AI-generated art based on big data, the Metacreation Lab developed Autolume, a no-coding environment that allows artists to train AI models using their chosen works. For “Dreamscape,” the Metacreation Lab collaborated with Vancouver-based visual artist Erica Lapadat-Janzen. Using Autolume, they hand-picked and treated 12 stills and 9 video loops, capturing her unique aesthetic. Lapadat-Janzen’s media artworks, performances, and installations draw viewers into a world of equilibrium, where moments punctuate daily events to clarify our existence and find poetic meaning.
Provocation exhibition brings artists and audiences together to celebrate and provoke conversations about contemporary living. The exhibition is at 215 Baker Rd, Salt Spring Island, BC, and is open to the public (free admission) every Saturday and Sunday from 12-4 pm.
Ars Electronica Linz GmbH is an Austrian cultural, educational and scientific institute active in the field of new media art, founded in Linz in 1979. It is based at the Ars Electronica Center (AEC), which houses the Museum of the Future, in the city of Linz. Ars Electronica’s activities focus on the interlinkages between art, technology and society. It runs an annual festival, and manages a multidisciplinary media arts R&D facility known as the Futurelab. It also confers the Prix Ars Electronica awards.
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Ars Electronica began with its first festival in September 1979. …
Optimism is not the belief that things will somehow work out, but rather the confidence in our ability to influence and bring about improvement. And that perhaps best describes the essence of the principle of hope, not as a passive position, but as an active force that motivates us to keep going despite adversity.
But don’t worry, this year’s festival will not be an examination of the psychological or even evolutionary foundations of the principle of hope, nor will it be a reflection on our unsteady fluctuation between hope and pessimism.
“HOPE” as a festival theme is not a resigned statement that all we can do is hope that someone or something will solve our problems, but rather a manifestation that there are actually many reasons for hope. This is expressed in the subtitle “who will turn the tide”, which does not claim to know how the turnaround can be achieved, but rather focuses on who the driving forces behind this turnabout are.
The festival’s goal is to spotlight as many people as possible who have already set out on their journey and whose activities—no matter how big or small—are a very concrete reason to have hope.
Believing in the possibility of change is the prerequisite for bringing about positive change, especially when all signs point to the fact that the paths we are currently taking are often dead ends.
But belief alone will not be enough; it requires a combination of belief, vision, cooperation, and a willingness to take concrete action. A willingness that we need, even if we are not yet sure how we will turn the tide, how we will solve the problems, and how we will deal with the effects of the problems that we are (no longer) able to solve.
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Earlier, I highlighted ‘Dreamscape’ which can be seen at Ars Electronica 2024 or at the “Provocation” exhibition on Salt Spring Island. Hopefully, you have an opportunity to visit one of the locations. As for the Metacreation Lab for Creative AI, you can find out more here.
The latest newsletter from the Metacreation Lab for Creative AI (at Simon Fraser University [SFU]), features a ‘first’. From the June 2024 Metacreation Lab newsletter (received via email),
“Longing + Forgetting” at the 2024 Currents New Media Festival in Santa Fe
We are thrilled to announce that Longing + Forgetting has been invited to the esteemed Currents New Media Festival in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Longing + Forgetting is a generative audio-video installation that explores the relationship between humans and machines. This media art project, created by Canadian artists Philippe Pasquier and Thecla Schiphorst alongside Australian artist Matt Gingold, has garnered international acclaim since its inception. Initially presented in Canada in 2013, the piece has journeyed through multiple international festivals, captivating audiences with its exploration of human expression through movement.
Philippe Pasquier will be on-site for the festival, overseeing the site-specific installation at El Museo Cultural de Santa Fe. This marks the North American premiere of the redeveloped version of “Longing + Forgetting,” featuring a new soundtrack by Pasquier based solely on the close-mic recording of dancers.
Currents New Media Festival runs June 14–23, 2024 and brings together the work of established and emerging new media artists from around the world across various disciplines, with an expected 9,000 visitors during the festival’s run.
Discover “Longing + Forgetting” at Bunjil Place in Melbourne
We are excited to announce that “Longing + Forgetting” is being featured at Bunjil Place in Melbourne, Australia. As part of the Art After Dark Program curated by Angela Barnett, this outdoor screening will run from June 1 to June 28, illuminating the night from 5 pm to 7 pm.
Presenting “Unveiling New Artistic Dimensions in Calligraphic Arabic Script with GANs” at SIGGRAPH 2024
We are pleased to share that our paper, “Unveiling New Artistic Dimensions in Calligraphic Arabic Script with Generative Adversarial Networks,” will be presented at SIGGRAPH 2024, the premier conference on computer graphics and interactive techniques. The event will take place from July 28 to August 1, 2024, in Denver, Colorado.
This paper delves into the artistic potential of Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) to create and innovate within the realm of calligraphic Arabic script, particularly the nastaliq style. By developing two custom datasets and leveraging the StyleGAN2-ada architecture, we have generated high-quality, stylistically coherent calligraphic samples. Our work bridges the gap between traditional calligraphy and modern technology and offers a new mode of creative expression for this artform.
For those unfamiliar with the acronym, SIGGRAPH stands for special interest group for computer graphics and interactive techniques. SIGGRAPH is huge and it’s a special interest group (SIG) of the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery).
If memory serves, this is the first time I’ve seen the Metacreation Lab make a request for volunteers, from the June 2024 Metacreation Lab newsletter,
Are you interested in music-making and AI technology?
The Metacreation Lab for Creative AI at Simon Fraser University (SFU), is conducting a research study in partnership with Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH. We are testing and evaluating MMM-Cubase v2, a creative AI system for assisting composing music. The system is based on our best music transformer, the multitrack music machine (MMM), which can generate, re-generate or complete new musical content based on existing content.
There is no prerequisite for this study beyond a basic knowledge of DAW and MIDI. So everyone is welcome even if you do not consider yourself a composer, but are interested in trying the system. The entire study should take you around 3 hours, and you must be 19+ years old. Basic interest and familiarity with digital music composition will help, but no experience with making music is required.
We seek to better evaluate the potential for adoption of such systems for novice/beginner as well as for seasoned composers. More specifically, you will be asked to install and use the system to compose a short 4-track musical composition and to fill out a survey questionnaire at the end.
Participation in this study is rewarded with one free Steinberg software license of your choice among Cubase Element, Dorico Element or Wavelab Element.
For any question or further inquiry, please contact researcher Renaud Bougueng Tchemeube directly at rbouguen@sfu.ca.
I received a May 31, 2023 ‘newsletter’ (via email) from Simon Fraser University’s (SFU) Metacreation Lab for Creative Artificial Intelligence and the first item celebrates some current and past work,
International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expressions | NIME 2023 May 31 – June 2 | Mexico City, Mexico
We’re excited to be a part of NIME 2023, launching in Mexico City this week!
As part of the NIME Paper Sessions, some of Metacreation’s labs and affiliates will be presenting a study based on case studies of musicians playing with virtual musical agents. Titled eTu{d,b}e, the paper was co-authored by Tommy Davis, Kasey LV Pocius, and Vincent Cusson, developers of the eTube instrument, along with music technology and interface researchers Marcelo Wanderley and Philippe Pasquier. Learn about the project and listen to sessions involving human and non-human musicians.
This research project involved experimenting with Spire Muse, a virtual performance agent co-developed by Metacreation Lab members. The paper introducing the system was awarded the best paper award at the 2021 International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME).
Learn more about the NIME2023 conference and program at the link below, which will also present a series of online music concerts later this week.
Coming up later this summer and also from the May 31, 2023 newsletter,
Evaluating Human-AI Interaction for MMM-C: a Creative AI System for Music Composition | IJCAI [2023 International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence] Preview
For those following the impact of AI on music composition and production, we would like to share a sneak peek of a review of user experiences using an experimental AI-composition tool [Multi-Track Music Machine (MMM)] integrated into the Steinberg Cubase digital audio workstation. Conducted in partnership with Steinberg, this study will be presented at the 2023 International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI2023), as part of the Arts and Creativity track of the conference. This year’s IJCAI conference taking place in Macao from August 19th to Aug 25th, 2023.
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The conference is being held in Macao (or Macau), which is officially (according to its Wikipedia entry) the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China (MSAR). It has a longstanding reputation as an international gambling and party mecca comparable to Las Vegas.
