Bio

George Legrady is an interdisciplinary digital media artist, author, researcher and Distinguished Professor in the Media Arts & Technology Graduate program at the University of California, Santa Barbara where he directs the Experimental Visualization Lab. The overall focus of his research and practice is based on the study of how image-generating technologies (camera, computer imaging systems, software) inadvertently redefine the data they process, and how this affects the content and meaning of the images, objects, and time-based media that these image-generating machines produce.

Legrady belongs to the first generation of photographic-based artists to integrate computational processes in the mid-1980s for creating “Born-Digital” visualizations. His current artistic and research projects explore algorithmic processes for photographic imaging and data visualization through semantic categorization and self-organizing systems, interactive computational-based art installations, and mixed-realities narrative development. A key focus is the creative potential of such technologies for aesthetic coherence and expression.

Legrady has held previous academic appointments at University of Western Ontario (Photography, 1977-1981), University of Southern California (Photography and computer art, 1984-1988), San Francisco State University (Conceptual Design / Information Arts, 1989-1997), Merz University of Visual Communication, Stuttgart (Digital media, 1995-2000) and visiting faculty positions at North Texas State University, Denton, Texas (Photography, 1976), Nova Scotia College of Art & Design, Halifax, (Photography, 1979), California Institute of the Arts (Photography, 1982-1984), UCLA (Photography, 1983; Digital media, 1998), Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts, Budapest (Intermedia, 1994), Fellow at the Institut des Mines, ParisTech (Diaspora Lab, 2017, 2018), and University of New South Wales, Sydney (iCinema Center for Interactive Research lab, 2018).

His artistic practice and research have been funded by a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship (2016), Graham Foundation Advanced Institute for the Fine Arts grant (2019). Robert W. Deutsch Foundation (2011-2014), National Science Foundation (IIS, 2011, ASC 2012), Creative-Capital Foundation Emerging Trends (2003), the National Endowment for the Arts (1996), the Daniel Langlois Foundation for the Arts, Science and Technology (2000), the Canada Council for the Arts (multiple), Ontario Arts Council (multiple). University research grants awarded at the University of Southern California, San Francisco State University, and UC Santa Barbara.

Legrady has exhibited his works at major museums internationally with over 60 solo exhibitions, and they are in permanent collections at the Centre Pompidou, Paris (2024); Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto (2021); Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2009, 2019); Santa Barbara Museum of Art (2019); ZKM, Centre for Art & Technology (1996, 2016); 21c Museum & Hotel, Cincinnati (2013); San Francisco Museum of Art (2012); D.E.Shaw & Co Consulting, NYC (2008); Corporate Executive Board, Arlington (2008); Pro Ahlers Art Foundation, Hanover, Germany (2008); Whitney Museum of American Art (2005), NYC; McIntosh Gallery, Western University, London (2020); Centre Gantner, Belfort, FR (2005); American Museum of Art at the Smithsonian, Washington (1987); Canada Council Art Bank (1982, 1990); National Galleries of Canada, Ottawa (1986); Musée d’art contemporain, Montreal (1984); Museum London, Canada (1980).

He has completed three data-based commissions: “Making Visible the Invisible”, Seattle Public Library (2005-present), “Kinetic Flow”, Santa Monica / Vermont Station, Hollywood Red line, Los Angeles Metro Rail (2006), and “Data Flow”, Corporate Executive Board, Arlington VA (2007-2008).

For more information about the MAT Seminar Series, go to:
seminar.mat.ucsb.edu.

Liberatory Collections and Afrofuturist AI: Reimagining AI Development from Black Data Stewards

Abstract

The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into mass cultural production has brought its underlying limitations—stereotypical representations, distorted perspectives, and misinformation—into the spotlight. Many of the risks of AI disproportionately impact minority cultural groups, including Black people. Now that AI is embedded in institutions like education, journalism, and museums, it is transforming how we access and reproduce sociocultural knowledge, while continuing to exclude or misrepresent many aspects of Black culture, if they are included at all. To reimagine AI systems as tools for meaningful and inclusive creative production, we must look beyond conventional technical disciplines and embrace a radical, decolonized imagination. I am to use Afrofuturism—a methodological framework rooted in Afrodiasporic visions of the future and grounded in critical engagement with race, class, and power—as a rich foundation for creating more equitable and imaginative technological innovations.

As a starting point, I build on existing calls to develop technology that does more than mitigate harm—a space I define as liberatory technology. Within this space, I identify liberatory collections—community-led repositories that amplify Black voices—as powerful models of data curation that empower communities historically marginalized by traditional AI and archival systems. My survey of fourteen such collections reveals innovative, culturally rooted approaches to preserving and sharing knowledge. I use these findings to argue for consent-driven training models, sustained funding for community-based initiatives, and the meaningful integration of Black histories and cultures into AI systems.

Expanding on this foundation, I have conducted preliminary interviews with Afrofuturist data stewards—Black technologists who carefully collect, curate, store, and use data related to Black speculative projects. My early analysis shows that these creators approach AI with a strong sense of cultural responsibility—not only to critique it, but to retool it in service of Black life. They navigate this historically fraught technological space by reclaiming tools once used for harm and repurposing them toward Black joy, rest, and healing. Through Afrofuturist perspectives, they reimagine historical data and artifacts, envisioning futures grounded in possibility rather than oppression.