Hidden Layers: AI Infrastructures and Hallucinations
September 2 - October 3, 2026
Opening Reception: Thursday, September 3 - 4:00pm-6:00pm
The Department of German is excited to announce the opening of Hidden Layers: AI Infrastructures and Hallucinations, curated by Antonio Somaini with Hannes Bajohr and Sonja Thiel, in dialogue with the Paris–Berkeley research initiative The Latent Spaces of Culture, and on display at the Worth Ryder Art Gallery, Department of Art Practice.
This exhibition examines some of the concealed dimensions of contemporary AI culture—the planetary infrastructures of extraction and computation, the often-invisible human labor, the latent vector spaces within which culture is compressed and processed, and the models' hallucinations. Hidden Layers tackles these phenomena from two perspectives: AI Infrastructures and AI Hallucinations.
Participating artists include Nouf Aljowaysir, Gašper Beguš, Nina Beguš & Metahaven, Grégory Chatonsky, Jill Miller & Asma Kazmi, Greg Niemeyer, Mario Santamaria & Alex Saum-Pascual, and more to be announced.
The project is a collaboration between the Department of German and the Worth Ryder Art Gallery at the Department of Art Practice.
The exhibition is supported by the Berkeley Center for New Media, the Berkeley–Paris Research Funds, BAMPFA, the Townsend Center, the Department of German, the Department of Art Practice, the Department of Rhetoric, the Department of Film and Media, and Antikythera.
In collaboration with BAMPFA, a short film program will be screened on September 9.
Events:
Exhibition Dates: September 2-October 3, 2026
Opening Reception: Thursday, September 3, 4-6:30pm, Worth Ryder Art Gallery
Artist Talk, Gregory Chatonsky: Thursday, September 3, 6:30-8:00pm, AAPB 285
Short Film Screening, BAMPFA, September 9
Curatorial Tour, led by Antonio Somaini,Worth Ryder Art Gallery, 10am
Conference on Latent Spaces: September 10–12
October 2: Last Day of Exhibition open
Closing Event: Tour of AI: October 3 (2pm, Start in Berkeley 3-6 Tour - 6pm reception at IC San Jose - 8pm return to Berkeley)
Additional events and more details to be announced. Times subject to change, please also check the campus calendar.