Creativity Entangled
Meet studio art major Tianyi Emma Fan.
Hometown: Beijing, China
Thesis Adviser: Professor Gerri Ondrizek [studio art]
Thesis: “Creativity Entangled: A Posthumanist Perspective on AI Art”
What it’s about: A both art-historical and speculative investigation into the role of the artist and how it has changed since the ’60s, how that question becomes relevant when we have AI art replacing a lot of the work we usually consider artists’ work, and where artists should place their work now as we have technology revolutionizing what we consider creativity.
What it’s really about: How to get a job as an artist in the age of AI.
Outside the classroom: I was a housing advisor for three years, for Chinese House and then Birchwood Apartments. That’s pretty cool, because it guaranteed a single [room] for me, but also, it really helped me think about how to engage a community.
Influential class: Art history classes have definitely been important to me and how I think about my own practice.
Cool stuff: I studied abroad in Paris. It was totally mind blowing. I went to all these museums, and the experience of a different culture really opened up my perspective.
Concept that blew my mind: I was in this class with Professor Michael Stevenson Jr. that changed how I think about artistic practice. I used to think there’s painting, there’s drawing, there’s printmaking and sculpture, and these are the mediums you must work in, because these are what the galleries are designed to host. But that class opened my mind to think about art as not something that’s bound to a medium but more so as an action or a practice.
Influential book: I have Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche, a book of parables, and I’ll just close my eyes and open up to a random page. I read it, and then I interpret it based on what I’m going through instead of dissecting it as a philosophical piece.
Challenges faced: As an international student, it was definitely a huge adjustment that I needed to make. It was this balance between, how much do I want to stay in my comfort zone, and how much do I want to take risks, to dabble in this new social scene where I learn all the conventions and social norms and probably mess up?
How Reed changed me: Reed helped me realize that it’s actually awesome you have your own ideas, and that when your perspective is different from others, it’s actually cool to tackle the topic and to disagree with other people. That’s just part of getting closer to understanding something.
What’s next: I’ve been admitted into the Contemporary Art Practice program at the Royal College of Art.