Scene from Lauren McCarthy's 24h HOST - a cocktail party generated by a machine hosted by a human.

The 24h HOST performance is a small party that lasts for 24 hours, driven by software that automates the event, embodied in human HOST. Every 5 minutes, one guest departs and a new guest arrives. Over the course of 24 hours, the HOST becomes increasingly depleted, but the software system drives her to continue, as the guests endlessly cycle through…

Lauren McCarthy is an LA-based artist examining social relationships in the midst of surveillance, automation, and algorithmic living. She is the creator of p5.js, an open source programming language with over 1.5 million users, for learning creative expression through code online. She is Co-Director of the Processing Foundation, a non-profit whose mission is to promote software literacy within the visual arts, and visual literacy within technology-related fields—and to make these fields accessible to diverse communities. She is an Assistant Professor at UCLA Design Media Arts.

The Barbican's AI: More than Human (16 May-26 Aug 2019) is an major exhibition exploring creative and scientific developments in artificial intelligence demonstrating its potential to revolutionise our lives. Part of Life Rewired, the Barbican's 2019 season exploring what it means to be human when technology is changing everything.