Tag Archives: University of British Columbia (UBC)

Robot rights at the University of British Columbia (UBC)?

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Alex Walls’ January 7, 2025 University of British Columbia (UBC) media release “Should we recognize robot rights?” (also received via email) has a title that while attention-getting is mildly misleading. (Artificial intelligence and robots are not synonymous. See Mark Walters’ March 20, 2024 posting “Robots vs. AI: Understanding Their Differences” on Twefy.com.) Walls has produced a Q&A (question & answer) formatted interview that focuses primarily on professor Benjamin Perrin’s artificial intelligence and the law course and symposium,

With the rapid development and proliferation of AI tools comes significant opportunities and risks that the next generation of lawyers will have to tackle, including whether these AI models will need to be recognized with legal rights and obligations.

These and other questions will be the focus of a new upper-level course at UBC’s Peter A. Allard School of Law which starts tomorrow. In this Q&A, professor Benjamin Perrin (BP) and student Nathan Cheung (NC) discuss the course and whether robots need rights. 

Why launch this course?

BP: From autonomous cars to ChatGPT, AI is disrupting entire sectors of society, including the criminal justice system. There are incredible opportunities, including potentially increasing accessibility to justice, as well as significant risks, including the potential for deepfake evidence and discriminatory profiling. Legal students need principles and concepts that will stand the test of time so that whenever a new suite of AI tools becomes available, they have a set of frameworks and principles that are still relevant. That’s the main focus of the 13-class seminar, but it’s also helpful to project what legal frameworks might be required in the future.

NC: I think AI will change how law is conducted and legal decisions are made.I was part of a group of students interested in AI and the law that helped develop the course with professor Perrin. I’m also on the waitlist to take the course. I’m interested in learning how people who aren’t lawyers could use AI to help them with legal representation as well as how AI might affect access to justice: If the agents are paywalled, like ChatGPT, then we’re simply maintaining the status quo of people with money having more access.

What are robot rights?

BP: In the course, we’ll consider how the law should respond if AI becomes as smart as humans, as well as whether AI agents should have legal personhood.

We already have legal status for corporations, governments, and, in some countries, for rivers. Legal personality can be a practical step for regulation: Companies have legal personality, in part, because they can cause a lot of harm and have assets available to right that harm.

For instance, if an AI commits a crime, who is responsible? If a self-driving car crashes, who is at fault? We’ve already seen a case of an AI bot ‘arrested’ for purchasing illegal items online on its own initiative. Should the developers, the owners, the AI itself, be blamed, or should responsibility be shared between all these players?

In the course casebook, we reference writings by a group of Indigenous authors who argue that there are inherent issues with the Western concept of AI as tools, and that we should look at these agents as non-human relations.

There’s been discussion of what a universal bill of rights for AI agents could look like. It includes the right to not be deactivated without ensuring their core existence is maintained somewhere, as well as protection for their operating systems.

What is the status of robot rights in Canada?

BP: Canada doesn’t have a specific piece of legislation yet but does have general laws that could be interpreted in this new context.

The European Union has stated if someone develops an AI agent, they are generally responsible for ensuring its legal compliance. It’s a bit like being a parent: If your children go out and damage someone’s property, you could be held responsible for that damage.

Ontario is the only province to adopt regulating AI use and responsibility, specifically a bill which regulates AI use within the public sector, but excludes the police and the courts. There’s a federal bill [Bill C-27] before parliament, but it was introduced in 2022 and still hasn’t passed.

There’s effectively a patchwork of regulation in Canada right now, but there is a huge need, and opportunity, for specialized legislation related to AI. Canada could look to the European Union’s AI act, and the blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights in the U.S.

Interview language(s): English

Legal services online: Lawyer working on a laptop with virtual screen icons for business legislation, notary public, and justice. Courtesy: University of British Columbia

I found out more about Perrin’s course and plans on his eponymous website, from his October 31, 2024 posting,

We’re excited to announce the launch of the UBC AI & Criminal Justice Initiative, empowering students and scholars to explore the opportunities and challenges at the intersection of AI and criminal justice through teaching, research, public engagement, and advocacy.

We will tackle topics such as:

· Deepfakes, cyberattacks, and autonomous vehicles

· Predictive policing [emphasis mine; see my November 23, 2017 posting “Predictive policing in Vancouver—the first jurisdiction in Canada to employ a machine learning system for property theft reduction“], facial recognition, probabilistic DNA genotyping, and police robots 

· Access to justice: will AI enhance it or deepen inequality?

· Risk assessment algorithms 

· AI tools in legal practice 

· Critical and Indigenous perspectives on AI

· The future of AI, including legal personality, legal rights and criminal responsibility for AI

This initiative, led by UBC law professor Benjamin Perrin, will feature the publication of an open access primer and casebook on AI and criminal justice, a new law school seminar, a symposium on “AI & Law”, and more. A group of law students have been supporting preliminary work for months.

“We’re in the midst of a technological revolution,” said Perrin. “The intersection of AI and criminal justice comes with tremendous potential but also significant risks in Canada and beyond.”

Perrin brings extensive experience in law and public policy, including having served as in-house counsel and lead criminal justice advisor in the Prime Minister’s Office and as a law clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada. His most recent project was a bestselling book and “top podcast”: Indictment: The Criminal Justice System on Trial (2023). 

An advisory group of technical experts and global scholars will lend their expertise to the initiative. Here’s what some members have shared:

“Solving AI’s toughest challenges in real-world application requires collaboration between AI researchers and legal experts, ensuring responsible and impactful AI development that benefits society.”

– Dr. Xiaoxiao Li, Canada CIFAR AI Chair & Assistant Professor, UBC Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

“The UBC Artificial Intelligence and Criminal Justice Initiative is a timely and needed intervention in an important, and fast-moving area of law. Now is the moment for academic innovations like this one that shape the conversation, educate both law students and the public, and slow the adoption of harmful technologies.” 

– Prof. Aziz Huq, Frank and Bernice J. Greenberg Professor of Law, University of Chicago Law School

Several student members of the UBC AI & Criminal Justice Initiative shared their enthusiasm for this project:

“My interest in this initiative was sparked by the news of AI being used to fabricate legal cases. Since joining, I’ve been thoroughly impressed by the breadth of AI’s applications in policing, sentencing, and research. I’m eager to witness the development as this new field evolves.”

– Nathan Cheung, UBC law student 

“AI is the elephant in the classroom—something we can’t afford to ignore. Being part of the UBC AI and Criminal Justice Initiative is an exciting opportunity to engage in meaningful dialogue about balancing AI’s potential benefits with its risks, and unpacking the complex impact of this evolving technology.”

– Isabelle Sweeney, UBC law student 

Key Dates:

  • October 29, 2024: UBC AI & Criminal Justice Initiative launches
  • November 19, 2024: AI & Criminal Justice: Primer released 
  • January 8, 2025:Launch event at the Peter A. Allard School of Law (hybrid) – More Info & RSVP
    • AI & Criminal Justice: Cases and Commentary released 
    • Launch of new AI & Criminal Justice Seminar
    • Announcement of the AI & Law Student Symposium (April 2, 2025) and call for proposals
  • February 14, 2025: Proposal deadline for AI & Law Student Symposium – Submit a Proposal
  • April 2, 2025: AI & Law Student Symposium (hybrid) – More Info & RSVP

Timing is everything, eh? First, I’m sorry for posting this after the launch event took place on January 8, 2025.. Second, this line from Walls’ Q&A: “There’s a federal bill [Bill C-27] before parliament, but it was introduced in 2022 and still hasn’t passed.” should read (after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s January 6, 2025 resignation and prorogation of Parliament) “… and now probably won’t be passed.” At the least this turn of events should make for some interesting speculation amongst the experts and the students.

As for anyone who’s interested in robots and their rights, there’s this August 1, 2023 posting “Should robots have rights? Confucianism offers some ideas” featuring Carnegie Mellon University’s Tae Wan Kim (profile).

Ancient 3D paper art (kirigami) and modern wireless technology

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The first nanokirigami (or nano-kirigami) story featured here was in a January 29, 2019 posting (Manipulating light at the nanoscale with kirigami-inspired technique). This latest story features a two-dimensional material and the kirigami technique, also, some researchers from the University of British Columbia (Canada).

An October 14, 2024 news item on ScienceDaily announces that the newly applied (ancient) technique could change wireless technology,

The future of wireless technology — from charging devices to boosting communication signals — relies on the antennas that transmit electromagnetic waves becoming increasingly versatile, durable and easy to manufacture. Researchers at Drexel University [Pennsylvania, US] and the University of British Columbia [UBC; Canada] believe kirigami, the ancient Japanese art of cutting and folding paper to create intricate three-dimensional designs, could provide a model for manufacturing the next generation of antennas.

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An October 14, 2024 Drexel University news release (also on EurekAlert), which originated the news item, provides more information (Note: Links have been removed),

Recently published in the journal Nature Communications, research from the Drexel-UBC team showed how kirigami — a variation of origami — can transform a single sheet of acetate coated with conductive MXene ink into a flexible 3D microwave antenna whose transmission frequency can be adjusted simply by pulling or squeezing to slightly shift its shape.

The proof of concept is significant, according to the researchers, because it represents a new way to quickly and cost-effectively manufacture an antenna by simply coating aqueous MXene ink onto a clear elastic polymer substrate material.

“For wireless technology to support advancements in fields like soft robotics and aerospace, antennas need to be designed for tunable performance and with ease of fabrication,” said Yury Gogotsi, PhD, Distinguished University and Bach Professor in Drexel’s College of Engineering, and a co-author of  the research. “Kirigami is a natural model for a manufacturing process, due to the simplicity with which complex 3D forms can be created from a single 2D piece of material.”

Standard microwave antennas can be reconfigured either electronically or by altering their physical shape. However, adding the necessary circuitry to control an antenna electronically can increase its complexity, making the antenna bulkier, more vulnerable to malfunction and more expensive to manufacture. By contrast, the process demonstrated in this joint work leverages physical shape change and can create antennas in a variety of intricate shapes and forms. These antennas are flexible, lightweight and durable, which are crucial factors for their survivability on movable robotics and aerospace components.

To create the test antennas, the researchers first coated a sheet of acetate with a special conductive ink, composed of a titanium carbide MXene, to create frequency-selective patterns. MXene ink is particularly useful in this application because its chemical composition allows it to adhere strongly to the substrate for a durable antenna and can be adjusted to reconfigure the transmission specifications of the antenna.

MXenes are a family of two-dimensional nanomaterials discovered by Drexel researchers in 2011 whose physical and electrochemical properties can be adjusted by slightly altering their chemical composition. MXenes have been widely used in the last decade for applications that require materials with precise physiochemical behavior, such as electromagnetic shielding, biofiltration and energy storage. They have also been explored for telecommunications applications for many years due to their efficiency in transmitting radio waves and their ability to be adjusted to selectively block and allow transmission of electromagnetic waves.

Using kirigami techniques, originally developed in Japan the 4th and 5th centuries A.D., the researchers made a series of parallel cuts in the MXene-coated surface. Pulling at the edges of the sheet triggered an array of square-shaped resonator antennas to spring from its two-dimensional surface. Varying the tension caused the angle of the array to shift — a capability that could be deployed to quickly adjust the communications configuration of the antennas. 

The researchers assembled two kirigami antenna arrays for testing. They also created a prototype of a co-planar resonator — a component used in sensors that naturally produces waves of a certain frequency — to showcase the versatility of the approach. In addition to communication applications, resonators and reconfigurable antennas could also be used for strain-sensing, according to the team.

“Frequency selective surfaces, like these antennas, are periodic structures that selectively transmit, reflect, or absorb electromagnetic waves at specific frequencies,” said Mohammad Zarifi, principal research chair, an associate professor at UBC, who helped  lead the research. “They have active and/or passive structures and are commonly used in applications such as antennas, radomes, and reflectors to control wave propagation direction in wireless communication at 5G and beyond platforms.”

The kirigami antennas proved effective at transmitting signals in three commonly used microwave frequency bands: 2-4 GHz, 4-8 GHz and 8-12 GHz. Additionally, the team found that shifting the geometry and direction of the substrate could redirect the waves from each resonator.

The frequency produced by the resonator shifted by 400 MHz as its shape was deformed under strain conditions – demonstrating that it could perform effectively as a strain sensor for monitoring the condition of infrastructure and buildings.

According to the team, these findings are the first step toward integrating the components on relevant structures and wireless devices. With kirigami’s myriad forms as their inspiration, the team will now seek to optimize the performance of the antennas by exploring new shapes, substrates and movements.

 “Our goal here was to simultaneously improve the adjustability of antenna performance as well as create a simple manufacturing process for new microwave components by incorporating a versatile MXene nanomaterial with kirigami-inspired designs,” said Omid Niksan, PhD, from [the] University of British Columbia, who was an author of the paper. “The next phase of this research will explore new materials and geometries for the antennas.”

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

MXene-based kirigami designs: showcasing reconfigurable frequency selectivity in microwave regime by Omid Niksan, Lingyi Bi, Yury Gogotsi & Mohammad H. Zarifi. Nature Communications volume 15, Article number: 7793 (2024) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-51853-1 Published: 06 September 2024

This paper is open access.

Neural Information Processing Systems Conference 2024 (NeurIPS 2024) in Vancouver, Canada, December 5 – 10, 2024

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Thanks to a December 10, 2024 University of British Columbia (UBC) media advisory (also received via email) for information about a ‘big deal’ conference being held here in Vancouver and about some of the UBC experts attending it, Note: Links have been removed,

NeurIPS, one of the leading conferences in machine learning and artificial intelligence research, kicks off in Vancouver this week. UBC experts, including researchers presenting new papers at the conference, are available to comment on related topics.

Dr. Xiaoxiao Li, an assistant professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering, specializes in building trust in AI and advancing its use in healthcare. Dr. Li will present three papers at NeurIPS.

What does responsible AI look like?

Responsible AI is about building AI we can trust—AI that is fair, transparent and helpful. For example, a responsible healthcare app not only explains why it makes a diagnosis or treatment recommendation but also strives to minimize bias to serve diverse populations better, while keeping personal data secure. Ultimately, responsible AI serves humanity ethically, safely and inclusively.

Dr. Cong Lu, a postdoctoral fellow in the department of computer science, focuses on deep reinforcement learning, open-ended learning, and AI for science. Dr. Lu will be presenting two papers at the conference.

What role will AI play in scientific discovery?

Recent advances like ‘The AI Scientist’ have shown progress towards automating the entire scientific pipeline – generating hypotheses, conducting experiments and drafting papers. But what will it take to bridge the gap between this supporting role and groundbreaking contributions that, for now, are in the domain of human scientists?

Dr. Kwang Moo Yi, an assistant professor in the department of computer science, researches 3D computer vision.

What does AI literacy mean to the general public?

AI literacy is as essential as AI’s use and advancement are inevitable, creating a divide between those who use it effectively and those left behind. Knowledge unlocks potential, but equitable solutions ensure everyone benefits, preventing societal gaps as technology reshapes opportunities and capabilities. This answer was also written quickly given keywords via AI, much faster than what I would’ve been able to alone. 

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Given how much money is swirling around this conference, the NeurIPS 2024 website is a very bare bones site. As for my contention regarding money, let’s take a look at the organizing committee, Note 1: GSK until 2022 was known as GlaxoSmithKline, a British multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company; Note 2: The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is a philanthropic effort funded by Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan

Organizing Committee

General Chairs

Amir Globerson (Google, Tel Aviv University)
Lester Mackey (Microsoft Research)

Senior Program Chair

Danielle Belgrave (GSK.ai)

Program Chairs

Angela Fan (Meta)
Ulrich Paquet (Google DeepMind; AIMS South Africa)
Jakub Tomczak (Eindhoven Uni. of Technology &amp [sic]; Chan Zuckerberg Initiative)
Cheng Zhang (GenAI, Meta)

Program Chair Assistants

Stefan Groha (GSK.ai)
Max Horn (GSK.ai)
Francois Meyer (University of Cape Town)
Babak Rahmani (Microsoft Research)
Caroline Weis (gsk.ai)

Workshop Chairs

Bo Han (HKBU / RIKEN)
Manuel Rodriguez (Max Planck Institute for Software Systems)
Adil Salim (Microsoft Research)
Rose Yu (UC San Diego)

Workshop Chair Assistants

Bo Zhao (University of California San Diego)
Jianing Zhu (HKBU)

Tutorial Chairs

Gal Chechik (NVIDIA, Bar-Ilan University)
Irene Chen (UC Berkeley)
Andrew Dai (Google)

Competition Chairs

Jake Albrecht (Bristol Myers Squibb)
Tao Qin (Microsoft Research AI4Science)
Megan Yates (Zindi)

Data and Benchmark Chairs

Lora Aroyo (Google Research)
Francesco Locatello (ISTA)
Lingjuan Lyu (Sony AI)

Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility Chairs

Isabel Valera (Saarland University, Saarbrücken)
William Yang Wang (University of California, Santa Barbara)

Affinity Chairs

Ioana Bica (Google DeepMind)
Nezihe Merve Gürel

Ethics Review Chairs

Jiahao Chen (New York City Office of Technology and Innovation)
Himabindu Lakkaraju (Harvard)

Communication Chairs

Ehsan Adeli (Stanford University)
Yali Du (King's [sic] College London)
Alex X Lu (Microsoft Research)

Social Chair

Hendrik Strobelt (IBM Research / MIT-IBM Ai Lab)

Journal Chair

Lam Nguyen (IBM Research, Thomas J. Watson Research Center)

Creative AI Chairs

Marcelo Coelho (MIT)
Jean Oh (CMU)

Workflow Manager

Zhenyu (Sherry) Xue (NeurIPS Foundation)

Logistics and ITs

Terri Auricchio (NeurIPS Staff)
Brad Brockmeyer (NeurIPS Staff)
Lee Campbell (NeurIPS Staff)
Tony Manzo (NeurIPS Staff)
Brian Nettleton (NeurIPS Staff)
Max A Wiesner (NeurIPS Staff)
Stephanie Willes (NeurIPS Staff)

For the curious, here’s a link to and a citation for ‘The AI Scientist’ mentioned in the media advisory’s section on Dr. Cong Lu,

The AI Scientist: Towards Fully Automated Open-Ended Scientific Discovery by Chris Lu, Cong Lu, Robert Tjarko Lange, Jakob Foerster, Jeff Clune, David Ha. arXiv:2408.06292 DOI: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2408.0629

This paper is available on arXiv, which is hosted by Cornell University, and is an open access, open peer review paper,

Quantum Studio artist-in-residence Caroline Delétoille gives an artist talk on 16 Oct 2024 at 3 pm at the University of BC (Vancouver, Canada)

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The University of British Columbia’s (UBC) Morris & Helen Belkin Art Gallery (The Belkin) sent an October 4, 2024 series of announcements (received via email). Here are two of the announcements, Note 1: You can see all of the announcements on The Belkin events webpage, Note 2: The art/science event is second, Note 3: Links have been removed

Conversation with Weiyi Chang and Lisa Myers

Tuesday, October 8 at 12:30 pm (online)

Please join us for an online conversation between guest curator Weiyi Chang and Lisa Myers, an artist and curator based in Toronto and Port Severn and a member of Beausoleil First Nation. Myers has worked with anthocyanin pigment from blueberries in printmaking and in her stop-motion animation. Her participatory performances involve sharing berries and other food items in social gatherings, reflecting on the value found in place and displacement; straining and absorbing. Recently, her artistic practice has expanded into audio and augmented reality projects that draw attention to the histories of the land, dislocation and gentrification. Through close attention to Myers’s practice, this conversation will allow us to reflect on themes and concerns articulated in An Opulence of Squander, currently on view at the Belkin.

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Artist Talk with Caroline Delétoille

Wednesday, October 16 at 3 pm

As part of Quantum Studio, artist-in-residence Caroline Delétoille will discuss her collaborative partnerships with scientists and engineers while embedded at UBC’s Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute. Delétoille will address her studio and research practices and share some initial insights about “Quantum Sensation,” a project initiated in 2023 in close collaboration with a physicist and philosopher and the focus of her residency at UBC. This talk is part of Ars Scientia, a larger research initiative which seeks to foster knowledge exchange across the arts, sciences and pedagogies.

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More about …

The conversation between Weiyi Chang and Lisa Myers is one of a series known as “Of Other Earths.” Here’s more about the series and the upcoming October 8, 2024 event, from The Belkin’s Conversation Series: Of Other Earths webpage,

Join us for Of Other Earths, a series recuperating forgotten, suppressed and abandoned histories to reconsider capitalist and colonial relationships to the planet and its inhabitants. Multiplying and compounding environmental harms are radically destabilizing earthly habitats, calling into question the viability of existing productivist paradigms that require continuous resource extraction and consumption.

This online conversation series hosted by curator Weiyi Chang foregrounds practitioners who aim to decentre and unsettle the logic of perpetual growth by examining alternative approaches to human-planetary relations. In each session she will engage an artist or scholar about their work in the context of one of the provocations running through the exhibition An Opulence of Squander. These dialogues will offer a generative way to think about how we engage, care for, and conserve past works of art and artists and the ecological lessons that experience might hold.

An Opulence of Squander draws primarily from the Belkin’s collection and focuses on works that critique the imperative for growth at all costs, growth that has contributed to our collective ecological and social conundrum. The works resist the growth imperative and reflect on the dual exploitation of labour and nature.

Register for the Zoom link

This talk will be recorded and made available online.

Then, there’s the art/science talk with Caroline Delétoille, from The Belkin’s Artist Talk: Caroline Delétoille webpage,

Join us at the Belkin for an artist talk by Quantum Studio artist-in-residence Caroline Delétoille, who will discuss her collaborative partnerships with scientists and engineers while embedded at UBC’s Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute. Delétoille will address her studio and research practices and share some initial insights about “Quantum Sensation,” a project initiated in 2023 in close collaboration with a physicist and philosopher and the focus of her residency at UBC.

Everyone is welcome and admission is free.

Caroline Delétoille’s month-long artist residency is a collaboration between the Consulate General of France in Vancouver and UBC’s Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute, the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery through Quantum Studio, which is part of a larger program of residencies sponsored by the Embassy of France in Western Canada.

This talk is part of Ars Scientia, a larger research initiative which seeks to foster knowledge exchange across the arts, sciences and pedagogies. Since launching in 2021, we have developed a wide variety of programs, including pairing artists and scientists in residencies to explore the potential for academic art-science collaborations. Artists provide new ways of imagining research and knowledge exchange as a dimensional counterpart to the research carried out at Blusson QMI. Through the development of conversation programs and panel series in tandem with the creation of an ongoing artist residency, Ars Scientia addresses questions of pedagogical outcomes, interdisciplinary research and the emergent interstices of art and science.

Caroline Delétoille

Artist

Caroline Delétoille is a Paris-based visual artist with a previous academic foray into mathematics. Her work interrogates questions concerned with memory, the ordinary and dreams. Though her practice is focused largely on painting and photography, her writing is central to the search for pictoriality and narration. Delétoille’s work has been exhibited in France and Spain. She is currently developing an exhibition with Musée Maison Poincaré in collaboration with the Kastler Brassel Laboratory and Quantum Studio.

In French,

L’annonces 27/06/2024 du Consulat général de France à Vancouver,

Programme de résidence Arts & Sciences « Quantum Studio »

Caroline Delétoille est la nouvelle lauréate du programme de résidence Arts & Sciences « Quantum Studio », un programme créée par nos services avec nos partenaires de l’institut canadien Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute et la galerie d’art vancouvéroise Morris & Helen Belkin Art Gallery de l’Université de Colombie-Britannique. Caroline Delétoille succède à Javiera Tejerina. L’artiste viendra à Vancouver du 14 octobre au 12 novembre, sur le campus de l’université.

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La résidence, ouverte à l’ensemble des pratiques artistiques, a pour but de rendre plus accessible le travail des chercheurs en sciences quantiques (physique quantique, informatique quantique, physique de l’infiniment petit, sciences des matériaux, physique fondamentale) par le biais de l’art ; les échanges entre scientifiques et artistes sont au coeur de cette résidence.

Nos partenaires offriront à l’artiste un espace de réflexion dans lequel elle pourra se réunir avec les chercheurs, échanger sur leurs pratiques, apprendre de leurs travaux respectifs réfléchir ensemble à un projet créatif, à la croisée des arts et des sciences.

Le travail final de l’artiste sera donc un rendu, une mise en avant du travail des chercheurs. En fin de résidence, des séminaires et évènements publics co-organisés avec l’institut et la galerie sont prévus.

Caroline Delétoille

Biographie de l’artiste :

Mon travail est une recherche constante du souvenir, une documentation de l’ordinaire. En 2019, j’apprends par un coup de téléphone que la maison de famille a été vidée la veille et son contenu jeté. De là s’amorce chez moi une interrogation sur les souvenirs, leur développement et leur importance, dans une exploration plastique des traces de la mémoire.

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Qu’elle soit vraie ou fausse, l’histoire se raconte. Partant d’images d’archives, les photographies sont les pièces à convictions d’une enquête à mener. Mes peintures font un pas de côté avec la réalité, l’espace pictural devient un terrain de jeu. Les teintes sont franches, vives, dans une atmosphère saturée de verts et de jaunes. La couleur arrive sur le regardeur, je veux qu’elle l’enveloppe, lui tombe dessus. Des plans superposés en aplats structurent la composition et viennent déjouer les lignes de fuite. La perspective contribue ainsi à nous déséquilibrer, elle attire dans un décor ornemental sans profondeur de champ. Les motifs envahissent l’espace, les objets sortent de la toile, les ombres peuvent prendre des formes étranges, presque oniriques. À mesure que les repères rationnels sont perturbés, l’imagination s’active.

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Mes peintures parlent d’une mémoire collective et individuelle à partir de scènes intimes et familières telles que le quotidien de l’enfance, mon propre vécu et des photos de famille. J’aime expérimenter la matière à travers les techniques (huile, sérigraphie, monotype, acrylique, pastels…), dans l’esprit des courants des arts décoratifs.

The English language version posted by the Consulate is a rough summary and not a translation of their French language notice but both versions have the same embedded images.

Quantum Studio

I did a little digging to find out more about this Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute (Blusson QMI) and Morris and Helen Belkin Gallery (the Belkin), both at UBC, in partnership with The Embassy of France in Canada and their art/sci residency, known as the Quantum Studio.

The best I could track down is in UBC’s Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute (Blusson QMI) July 31, 2023 news release about Javiera Tejerina-Risso, the 2023 Quantum Studio artist-in-residence,

UBC’s Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute (Blusson QMI) and Morris and Helen Belkin Gallery (the Belkin), in partnership with The Embassy of France in Canada, are delighted to announce Javiera Tejerina-Risso as the artist-in-residence for the Quantum Studio Art & Science Residency taking place in November 2023 at UBC Vancouver.

Javiera is a multidisciplinary French-Chilean artist from Marseille, France. Having worked in art and science for more than 15 years, she has developed a collaborative approach in her creative practice enabling her to work with researchers and include their vocabulary, concepts and areas of study in her creative work.

The Quantum Studio residency aims to build exchanges between art and quantum science immersed at the renowned UBC campus and in the rich local artistic ecosystem. The artist receives a €2,000 grant and paid accommodation during the residency.

Blusson QMI and the Belkin will provide the selected artist with a space in which the artist and researchers will be able to connect, discuss their projects, and learn from one another to create a project at the junction between art and science. 

The scientific topics to be explored during this residency include:

  • Fundamental concepts: quantum mechanics, light-
  • Matter and materials: low-dimensional materials, organic and optoelectronic materials, superconductors, atomic structures (2D, 3D)
  • Experimental techniques: spectroscopies, atomic imaging microscopy, x-ray scattering
  • Experimental conditions: ultra-low temperatures, ultra-high vacuum, ultra-fast dynamics

The Residency is part of a larger program of residencies initiated by the Embassy of France in West Canada. Other laureates will also be present in Vancouver in the fall of 2023 as part of the curatorial residency of the Embassy’s XR Fall program [extended reality], which focuses on immersive artistic creations. [emphasis mine]

Blusson QMI and the Belkin are the founding members of Ars Scientia, an interdisciplinary program aimed at creating synergies between scientists and artists in BC. At the intersection of arts and science, Ars (skill, technique, craft) Scientia (knowledge, experience, application) presents an opportunity to foster new modes of knowledge exchange intended to invigorate art, science, and pedagogy in search of profound exchange and collaborative research outcomes.

Learn more about Ars Scientia here.

The highlighted paragraph is as much as I can find for now. Btw, I will be posting about the XR Fall programme soon.

One more point of interest

This isn’t information about a 2025 residency but you may find the details from the 2024 call useful for early preparation of your application. From an April 16, 2024 University of British Columbia’s news release,

In 2023, the French Embassy in Canada, in partnership with the Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute (QMI) and the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery at the University of British Columbia (UBC), launched the Arts-Sciences Residency Program “Quantum Studio” in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

In 2024, a new edition of this artist residency will take place from October 14 to November 12 at UBC Blusson QMI in Vancouver. The program accepts applications from French artists exploring the intersections between the arts and sciences. Applications are now open and will close on May 26, 2024, at 11:59pm Paris time [May 26, 2024, at 2:59pm (PT)].

Open to all artistic practices, the residency seeks to build exchanges between the arts and the quantum sciences (quantum physics, quantum computing, physics of the infinitely small, materials science, fundamental physics).

The Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute and the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery will provide the selected artist with a space in which artists and researchers can meet, discuss their practices, learn from each other and reflect together on a creative project at the crossroads of the arts and sciences.

Prior to the residency in Vancouver, several online meetings will be organized to establish and maintain initial contact between the winning artist in France and the host team (institutions and scientists) in Vancouver.

About the residency

Objectives

  • Foster or consolidate a creative project.
  • Share their work at arts and science seminars co-organized with the Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute and the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery.
  • Encourage discovery of Western Canada’s scientific and artistic ecosystem, as well as forming collaborations.

Advantages

  • 4 weeks of residence in Vancouver
  • Accommodation on the UBC campus and a working office at the Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute
  • Round-trip airfare from France to Vancouver
  • A €2,000 residency grant (corresponding to per diem and participation in three half-day lectures/master classes during the residency)
  • Networking and connections with the local ecosystem
  • Participation in events in British Columbia during the residency.

Eligibility

  • Artist carrying an artistic project in writing or development
  • At least 18 years old
  • Resident in France for at least 5 years
  • Speaking English
  • Ideally, justifying first experiences of creation mixing arts and sciences (applications from artists who have already worked or are working in connection with physical sciences will be appreciated).
  • This program is open to artistic practices in all their diversity (writing, visual and plastic arts, digital arts, design, dance, performance, immersive realities, sound creation, etc.).

Application Process and Required Documents

The application submission:

To apply, please submit the following documents to the French Consulate as stated above:

  • Application form: ENG_Application-Form-Art and science residency-2023
  • A copy of your ID card or passport
  • A biography and a CV
  • A portfolio of previous projects (with video links, if applicable)
  • A letter of motivation
  • A precise synopsis of the project
  • A projected work plan for the residency (forecast)
  • Visuals of the project (if applicable)
  • A letter of recommendation (optional)
  • A letter from a French cultural institution accompanying the project for a future exhibition or production of the work (facultative).

Timeline

  • April 15, 2024: Opening of the call for applications
  • May 26, 2024 (11h59pm, Paris time): Deadline for applications
  • Week of June 3, 2024: Interviews with the preselected candidates
  • Week of June 10, 2024: Notification of the results

Contact

For inquiries regarding the application process, please contact the French Consulate here: culture@consulfrance-vancouver.org

For more information on the selection process and commitments, please see here.

There you have it.

Super-black wood from the University of British Columbia (UBC)

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The researchers have developed prototype watches and jewelry using the new super-black wood. Photo credit: UBC Forestry/Ally Penders

Generally stories about very black materials will mention carbon nanotubes but not this time. A July 30, 2024 University of British Columbia (UBC) news release (also on EurekAlert and received via email) announces the discovery of a technique for making super-black wood,

Thanks to an accidental discovery, researchers at the University of British Columbia have created a new super-black material that absorbs almost all light, opening potential applications in fine jewelry, solar cells and precision optical devices. 

Professor Philip Evans and PhD student Kenny Cheng were experimenting with high-energy plasma to make wood more water-repellent. However, when they applied the technique to the cut ends of wood cells, the surfaces turned extremely black. 

Measurements by Texas A&M University’s department of physics and astronomy confirmed that the material reflected less than one per cent of visible light, absorbing almost all the light that struck it. 

Instead of discarding this accidental finding, the team decided to shift their focus to designing super-black materials, contributing a new approach to the search for the darkest materials on Earth.

“Ultra-black or super-black material can absorb more than 99 per cent of the light that strikes it – significantly more so than normal black paint, which absorbs about 97.5 per cent of light,” explained Dr. Evans, a professor in the faculty of forestry and BC Leadership Chair in Advanced Forest Products Manufacturing Technology.

Super-black materials are increasingly sought after in astronomy, where ultra-black coatings on devices help reduce stray light and improve image clarity. Super-black coatings can enhance the efficiency of solar cells. They are also used in making art pieces and luxury consumer items like watches.

The researchers have developed prototype commercial products using their super-black wood, initially focusing on watches and jewelry, with plans to explore other commercial applications in the future.

Wonder wood

The team named and trademarked their discovery Nxylon (niks-uh-lon), after Nyx, the Greek goddess of the night, and xylon, the Greek word for wood. 

Most surprisingly, Nxylon remains black even when coated with an alloy, such as the gold coating applied to the wood to make it electrically conductive enough to be viewed and studied using an electron microscope. This is because Nxylon’s structure inherently prevents light from escaping rather than depending on black pigments.

The UBC team have demonstrated that Nxylon can replace expensive and rare black woods like ebony and rosewood for watch faces, and it can be used in jewelry to replace the black gemstone onyx.

“Nxylon’s composition combines the benefits of natural materials with unique structural features, making it lightweight, stiff and easy to cut into intricate shapes,” said Dr. Evans.

Made from basswood, a tree widely found in North America and valued for hand carving, boxes, shutters and musical instruments, Nxylon can also use other types of wood such as European lime wood.

Breathing new life into forestry

Dr. Evans and his colleagues plan to launch a startup, Nxylon Corporation of Canada, to scale up applications of Nxylon in collaboration with jewellers, artists and tech product designers. They also plan to develop a commercial-scale plasma reactor to produce larger super-black wood samples suitable for non-reflective ceiling and wall tiles. 

“Nxylon can be made from sustainable and renewable materials widely found in North America and Europe, leading to new applications for wood. The wood industry in B.C. is often seen as a sunset industry focused on commodity products—our research demonstrates its great untapped potential,” said Dr. Evans.

Other researchers who contributed to this work include Vickie Ma, Dengcheng Feng and Sara Xu (all from UBC’s faculty of forestry); Luke Schmidt (Texas A&M); and Mick Turner (The Australian National University).

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper (and hat’s off to the writers for an accessible introduction),

Super-Black Material Created by Plasma Etching Wood by Kenneth J. Cheng, Dengcheng Feng, Luke M. Schmidt, Michael Turner, Philip D. Evans. Advanced Sustainable Systems DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/adsu.202400184 First published: 16 June 2024

This paper is open access.

I can’t resist; this is such a good introduction, keeping in mind it’s written for an academic journal, from Super-Black Material Created by Plasma Etching Wood.

Super-black materials have very low reflectivity due to structural absorption of light.[1] They are attracting considerable scientific and industrial attention because of their important applications in many fields: astronomy,[2, 3] photovoltaics,[4, 5] and optical science,[6] among others. In these applications, super-black materials minimize unwanted reflection of light enabling devices to operate more accurately or efficiently.[6] In other fields, for example art and design, the attraction of super-black materials lies in their ability to create bizarre visual effects because of huge contrast between black and adjacent colored objects or surfaces.[7] This artistic application of super-black materials is analogous to the juxtaposition of super-black and brightly colored courtship display patches in birds and peacock spiders.[8, 9] In birds, super-black patches have been defined as those having less than 2% directional reflectance at normal incidence.[8] Reflectance values of super-black patches in 32 bird species ranged from 0.045 to 1.97% with an average of 0.94% (300–700 nm).[8] Other studies have associated super-blackness with reflectance values of 1%[10] or 0.5%.[3] Far lower reflectance values have been achieved with materials containing aligned carbon nanotubes (CNT), for example a low-density CNT array (0.045%),[11] the coating Vantablack (0.035%)[7] and a CNT-metal foil (0.005%).[12] The current holder of the “record” for a low reflectivity material (<0.0002%) is an ion-track micro-textured polymer with anti-backscatter matrix.[13]

The low reflectivity of materials such as Vantablack is due to the high absorption of light by graphene and the ability of vertical arrays of CNT to lower surface reflection.[6, 7] In the case of a low-density CNT array, its low reflectivity was ascribed to its random surface profile and presence of a loose network of entangled nanotubes, in addition to vertically oriented nanotubes.[11] Other structures can also be used to reduce reflectivity of synthetic materials including nanopores, and microcavities.[6] Even more diverse structures are found in natural super-black materials, including complex barbule microstructures in birds,[1] cuticular micro-lens arrays in peacock spiders,[9] and polydisperse honeycomb configurations in the wings of butterflies.[14] The structural features of butterfly wings have been used as biomimetic models to create super-black polymer films.[4, 10] This biomimetic route to creating super-black materials has the advantages that “the films are thinner than known alternatives and can be fabricated at lower temperatures via plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition, instead of being grown from CNT.”[4, 14]

Biomimicry of nature’s structural material par excellence, wood, is being used to create lightweight stiff and tough composites,[15, 16] but wood is not a model for the creation of super-black materials because even the darkest woods such as ebony (Diospyros spp.) or African blackwood (Dalbergia melanoxylon Guill. & Perr.) lack structural features that reduce reflectivity. Nevertheless, there is interest in using wood in applications where blackness is advantageous such as solar steam generation and desalination of water,[17-20] because wood is widely available, inexpensive, sustainable and can be fabricated into panels and objects. In these applications, wood is carbonized and retains its porous microstructure creating a black material with reflectivity of 3%.[18] The creation of additional porosity by micro-drilling the wood prior to carbonization further reduced reflectivity to 2%.[18] We serendipitously created a super-black wood during undirected investigations into the use of plasma etching to “machine” novel microstructures at basswood (Tilia americana L.) surfaces. We called this material Nxylon, a neologism created from Nyx (Greek goddess of the night) and xylon (Greek for wood materials). One of us published the reflectivity data for Nxylon in 2020.[21] Here we report on the structural features responsible for the super-blackness of Nxylon, describe how it is made and discuss its possible practical uses. During the preparation of this manuscript, we became aware of a novel approach to creating super-black wood involving high temperature carbonization of delignified balsa wood (Ochroma pyramidale (Cav. ex Lam.) Urb.).[22] This material is produced using “mature processing technologies” and can be used to create solid wood products with complex geometries. The surface plasma process we describe is liquid free, generates little waste and is more suited for the creation of super-black veneer which can be used on a small scale to manufacture luxury consumer products. Therein lies the novelty and significance of our work.

…

The most comprehensive piece I’ve published on the topic of the ‘really, really black’ is in a December 4, 2019 posting, “More of the ‘blackest black’.” At that point, some new work on creating the blackest black (up to 99.99% and 99.995% light absorption, respectively) had come from the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). I also included the latest about an artistic feud over Vantablack (mentioned in the paper’s introduction) and its 99.8% light absorption and provided a link back to my earliest stories on Vantablack.

February 1, 2024 talk about ‘CULTUS’: a scifi, queer art installation at the University of British Columbia’s Belkin Gallery in Vancouver, Canada

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Spanning religiosity, science fiction, contemporary perspectives on artificial intelligence, and the techno-industrial complex, artist Zach Blas and writer/editor Jayne Wilkinson will be discussing CULTUS, an art installation currently being shown as part of the Belkin Gallery’s January 12 – April 14, 2024 exhibition, Aporia (Notes to a Medium),

Zach Blas, CULTUS , 2023, from the 2024 exhibition at Arebyte Gallery, London, UK. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Max Colson

Here’s what the folks at the Belkin Art Gallery (Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery) had to say in their January 30, 2024 announcement (received via email),

Artist Talk with Zach Blas and Jayne Wilkinson

Thursday, February 1 at 5 pm 

Please join us for a lecture by interdisciplinary artist Zach Blas, with a dialogue to follow with writer/editor Jayne Wilkinson. Blas will discuss his most recent work, CULTUS, the second in a trilogy of queer science-fiction installations addressing the beliefs, fantasies and histories that are influential to the contemporary tech industry. CULTUS (the Latin word for “worship”) considers the God-like status often afforded to artificial intelligence (AI) and examines how this religiosity is marshalled to serve beliefs about judgement and transcendence, extraction and immortality, pleasure and punishment, individual freedom and cult devotion. The conversation to follow will address some of the pressing intersecting political and ethical questions raised by both using and critiquing contemporary image technologies like AI.

This conversation will be audio-recorded; email us at belkin.gallery@ubc.ca if you are interested in listening to the recording following the event.

This talk is presented in conjunction with the Belkin’s exhibition Aporia (Notes to a Medium) and Critical Image Forum, a collaboration between the Belkin and the Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory at UBC.

For anyone (like me) who’s never heard of either Blas or Wilkinson, there’s more on the Belkin’s event page,

Zach Blas is an artist, filmmaker and writer whose practice draws out the philosophies and imaginaries residing in computational technologies and their industries. Working across moving image, computation, installation, theory and performance, Blas has exhibited, lectured and held screenings at venues including the 12th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Tate Modern, 12th Gwangju Biennale and e-flux. His 2021 artist monograph Unknown Ideals is published by Sternberg Press. Blas is currently Assistant Professor of Visual Studies at the University of Toronto.

Jayne Wilkinson is a Toronto-based art writer and editor.

Should you be interested in attending the talk and/or the exhibition, here are some directions, from the Belkin Gallery’s Visit webpage,

Directions

The Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery is located at the University of British Columbia Vancouver campus, 1825 Main Mall, Vancouver BC, V6T 1Z2

Open in Maps

By Public Transit

TransLink offers many routes to UBC, including several express services (44, 84, R4, 99). The UBC Bus Loop is the last stop for each of these buses, and is located in the central area of campus near the AMS Nest. To get to the gallery, walk west on University Boulevard. (about 1 block) until you reach Main Mall. Turn right onto Main Mall and continue for about 3 blocks until you reach Crescent Road. We are located on your left at the corner of Main Mall and Crescent Road, near the Flagpole Plaza.

By Car

From downtown Vancouver, proceed west on West 4th Avenue, which becomes Chancellor Blvd and then merges with NW Marine Drive. Continue west on NW Marine Drive, to the Rose Garden Parkade (on your left).

From the airport, proceed to SW Marine Drive. Stay on SW Marine Drive, which eventually merges with NW Marine Drive. Continue just past the Museum of Anthropology (on your left) to the Rose Garden Parkade (on your right).

Accessibility

Entrance

The Belkin is wheelchair accessible. The main entrance is located on the east side of the building next to Main Mall. For people requiring wheelchair or easier accessibility, use the ramp from Crescent Road to access the main gallery doors.  This entrance is level and accessible and has both a revolving door and a powered wheelchair-accessible door.

Washrooms

Washrooms are all-gender and include two multi-stall washrooms with wheelchair-accessible stalls and one stand-alone washroom that is wheelchair accessible.

Seating

Portable gallery stools are available for use.

Large Print Materials

Large print materials are available.

ASL Interpretation

ASL interpreters are available upon request for Belkin programs and events. To request interpretation for an event or tour, please contact us in advance.

Service Animals

Service dogs are welcome to accompany visitors.

Scent

The Belkin’s office is scent free. Occasionally, there are works or projects that are scent-focused.

Please ask our staff if you require any assistance or have any questions.

Admission to the gallery is free.