viewsfromthemachinesocialpromo crop.jpg
viewsfromthemachinesocialpromo crop.jpg

Views from the Machine | In-Person Workshop

$95.00

Saturday March 28, 2026 - 1pm-4pm

568 Richmond St. W, Toronto, Canada

A workshop on computer perception: attention, models, and how algorithms understand our world.

We spend a lot of time being seen by machines — cameras, phones, algorithms sorting through images of us without us knowing. Most of us are left with only a vague sense that something is happening, and no real way to look back.

Views from the Machine is for cultural practitioners, educators, facilitators, and curious thinkers who want to move beyond abstract conversations about AI and into direct, embodied experience with how these systems actually work.

Through hands-on exercises in drawing, collaging, and making — and watching what various vision models pay attention to in real time — participants develop an intuitive, grounded understanding of computer perception that no explainer article can provide.

Over the course of the workshop, we invite participants to:

  • Experience firsthand how machine attention differs from human perception

  • Develop playful, low-stakes methods for demystifying algorithmic systems

  • Build confidence in explaining abstract technical concepts through tangible, embodied practice

  • Engage critically with AI outside the familiar frames of productivity, efficiency, or fear

Participants in Views from the Machine will walk away with:

  • Tangible facilitation methods for introducing algorithmic literacy to non-technical audiences

  • A personal framework for engaging critically and creatively with digital technologies

  • Clarity in articulating their own values and perspectives on algorithmic systems

  • A shared experience with a small community of people asking the same kinds of questions

No technical background required. No computers to bring. Just your hands, your attention, and your willingness to be a little surprised by what the machine finds interesting.

Saturday March 28, 2026 - 1pm-4pm

568 Richmond St. W, Toronto, Canada

A workshop on computer perception: attention, models, and how algorithms understand our world.

We spend a lot of time being seen by machines — cameras, phones, algorithms sorting through images of us without us knowing. Most of us are left with only a vague sense that something is happening, and no real way to look back.

Views from the Machine is for cultural practitioners, educators, facilitators, and curious thinkers who want to move beyond abstract conversations about AI and into direct, embodied experience with how these systems actually work.

Through hands-on exercises in drawing, collaging, and making — and watching what various vision models pay attention to in real time — participants develop an intuitive, grounded understanding of computer perception that no explainer article can provide.

Over the course of the workshop, we invite participants to:

  • Experience firsthand how machine attention differs from human perception

  • Develop playful, low-stakes methods for demystifying algorithmic systems

  • Build confidence in explaining abstract technical concepts through tangible, embodied practice

  • Engage critically with AI outside the familiar frames of productivity, efficiency, or fear

Participants in Views from the Machine will walk away with:

  • Tangible facilitation methods for introducing algorithmic literacy to non-technical audiences

  • A personal framework for engaging critically and creatively with digital technologies

  • Clarity in articulating their own values and perspectives on algorithmic systems

  • A shared experience with a small community of people asking the same kinds of questions

No technical background required. No computers to bring. Just your hands, your attention, and your willingness to be a little surprised by what the machine finds interesting.

Program Facilitators

Benjamin Lappalainen

Benjamin Lappalainen is a Toronto-based creative technologist, educator, and multidisciplinary artist. He creates interactive audiovisual experiences that illuminate novel uses and potential dangers of emerging technologies such as computer vision and AI, with work exhibited at InterAccess, Northern Contemporary Gallery, and Long Winter Arts & Music Festival. His educational practice includes leading workshops and mentorship programs that bridge technical skill-building with experimental arts practices.

As XR Development Lead with UKAI Projects, Benjamin collaborates with artists and organizations to execute research, exhibitions, immersive and interactive experiences, publishing, and workshops. UKAI Projects imagines and produces “culture for what’s coming”, most recently working with the Accton Arts Foundation in Hsinchu, Taiwan for research into arts policy, delivering workshops, and activating a city block with the first international iteration of Goblin Market, a collectively imagined alternative arts marketplace.

Benjamin holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Engineering Science from the University of Toronto. His current research focuses on developing and building software and hardware for interactive media, creating accessible and unique tools that support artist communities in realizing technically ambitious projects.

Luisa Ji

From projects like Intelligent Terrain, Cultural Technologies Lab, and Goblin Market, Luisa Ji has turned abstract questions into embodied experiences that guide artists, cultural practitioners, and the public in their exploration of AI, technology’s ecological impact, cooperations under scarcity, and more. These projects are curious inquiries into how people engage with lived environments rather than making arbitrary distinctions between culture and nature.

Luisa Ji is a creative strategist and cultural technologist working at the intersection of public imagination, digital transformation, and systems of care. With over a decade of global experience, she leads participatory programs that use storytelling, worldbuilding, and culturally-specific technological adaptations to help institutions navigate cultural and ecological volatility.

As Studio Director at UKAI Projects, Luisa has delivered initiatives across Canada, South Korea, Iceland, Taiwan, and the UK, supporting artists and arts organizations in transforming their practices. Her background spans civic experience design, AI literacy, and cultural infrastructure, with speaking and workshop credits at SÍM Residency (Reykjavik, Iceland), Watershed (Bristol, UK), msdm (London, UK), MUTEK Montreal (CA), Société des arts technologiques (CA), and Milieux Institute (CA). She is a program co-lead of the Cultural Technologies Lab, a community of arts and cultural workers that leverages culture as vital technology for regeneration and societal transformation.