Harold Cohen: AARON—Discussing the Earliest Artificial Intelligence Program for Artmaking

Christiane Paul, Curator of Digital Art, and David Lisbon, Curatorial Assistant, the curatorial team behind Harold Cohen: AARON, share insights in this conversation about the show on the Whitney’s 8th Floor. This exhibition traces the evolution of Harold Cohen’s AARON, the earliest artificial intelligence (AI) program for artmaking. Leaving behind his practice as an established painter in London, Cohen (1928–2016) conceived the software in the late 1960s at the University of California, San Diego, and named it AARON in the early 1970s. Cohen understood his work with AARON to be a collaboration, and he devoted his life to exploring the potential of artificial intelligence to translate an artist’s knowledge and process into code. This exhibition is organized by Christiane Paul, Curator of Digital Art, with David Lisbon, Curatorial Assistant. Harold Cohen: AARON is on view from February 3–May 19, 2024.