Patricia Piccinini Exhibit at Hosfelt Gallery Highlights the Merging of Artificial Intelligence, Bioengineering and Humanity

SAN FRANCISCO, June 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco's premier contemporary art gallery, will exhibit the work of world-renowned Australian artist Patricia Piccinini through July 9, 2016.  Piccinini's work highlights the dissolving distinctions between the natural and artificial worlds, and explores the ethical impact as those worlds commingle through bioengineering, artificial intelligence and medical and technological advancements.  At the core, Piccinini's art questions what it means to be human in an age of intelligent machines.

"One of the things this exhibition is about is how nature is being changed by technology and how technology is becoming more and more natural," said Todd Hosfelt, who founded Hosfelt Gallery in San Francisco twenty years ago this September. "Piccinini's work grapples with some of the oldest and most basic philosophical questions such as what it means to be human. It also asks us to consider both how we treat each other and how we treat other species."  

Piccinini's exhibition at Hosfelt Gallery begins with a sculpture titled "Embryo," an imagined fetal automobile. As the technology of self-parking and self-driving cars continues to progress, Piccinini imagines a potential not-too-distant future where cars grow and develop in a lifecycle similar to that of mammals. From there, the exhibition takes a look at more shocking possibilities, such as intra- and inter-species relations as well as how we treat animals and other human beings. From the "embryo" sculpture to imagined beings, Piccinini's ideas are all rooted in the plausible, given advances in genetics, organ harvesting, transplants and artificial intelligence.

"The Bay Area is a center for scientific and cultural innovation," said Piccinini. "It is an incredibly vital place for both biotechnology and art, and as such is a perfect space for my work which looks at the intersection of these two worlds. There is a real opportunity here to foster a dialogue around the possibilities and ethical complexities of a world where humans have an increasingly significant control over the nature of life itself."

The exhibition can be seen at Hosfelt Gallery through July 9, 2016.  The gallery is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday 10 am-5:30 pm, and Thursday 11 am-7 pm.  Private appointments are also available by calling 415-495-5454.  For more information, including photos and a description of the exhibition, visit www.hosfeltgallery.com.

About Hosfelt Gallery

Founded 20 years ago in September of 1996, Hosfelt Gallery has been a pioneer in the San Francisco and global art scene, representing contemporary artists from around the world. Hosfelt Gallery was among the first to exhibit such critically acclaimed artists as Shahzia Sikander, Stefan Kürten, Shirin Neshat, Marco Maggi and Jim Campbell, whose LED works have been shown in major museums across the globe and whose public commissions include a 1,000 foot-long ceiling sculpture at the San Diego Airport and artworks in development for San Francisco's new central subway and Transbay Terminal.  For information on current and upcoming exhibitions and artists represented, visit www.hosfeltgallery.com.

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SOURCE Hosfelt Gallery