Exhibition Dates: August 25 – October 10, 2026
Location: The Arts Center of Brazos Valley
Opening Reception: Friday, August 28, 2026 | 5:00–7:00 p.m.
Special Performance/Demonstration: Wednesday, September 16 |5:00–7:00 p.m.
Closing Date: Saturday, October 10th
Join Us
Join us for Aberrant Creativity, an international juried exhibition presented by the Institute for Applied Creativity in the College of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts at Texas A&M University, in partnership with the Arts Center of Brazos Valley.
Featuring 35 artists from 14 countries across five continents, the exhibition explores how contemporary artists are redefining the relationship between human creativity and artificial intelligence through experimentation, critical inquiry and creative collaboration. Visitors will encounter works that challenge conventional ideas of authorship, imagination, and machine intelligence while responding to this year’s theme, Human as Inspiration.
Celebrate the exhibition at the Opening Reception on Friday, August 28, from 5:00-7:00 p.m., where awards will be announced, followed by an opening performance. Throughout the exhibition, visitors are also invited to attend a Special Performance/Demonstration on September 16 at 5:00 p.m. and the Closing Event on October 14 at 5:00 p.m. Light refreshments will be served during the opening reception.
About the Exhibition
Aberrant Creativity offers a space for inquiry rather than certainty. Instead of simply celebrating or rejecting generative AI, the exhibition invites artists and audiences to critically engage with its creative possibilities, contradictions and consequences.
Drawing on philosopher Gilles Deleuze’s concept of the machine as a site of becoming and experimentation, the exhibition explores AI as collaborator, provocateur, medium and foil. The featured works investigate shared authorship between humans and machines while questioning agency, intention, originality, and the evolving nature of artistic practice.
Inspired by J.C.R. Licklider’s vision of Man-Computer Symbiosis, this year’s exhibition asks us to imagine a future—and recognize a present—in which human imagination, emotion and experience become the creative wellspring for machine intelligence. Rather than viewing AI as an autonomous creator, the exhibition considers how machines are shaped by human presence, responding to us, reflecting us and even dreaming with us.
2026 Theme: Human as Inspiration
Visitors are invited into a world where artists experiment responsibly with embodiment and subversion, invention and hacking, collaboration and community, revealing new possibilities at the intersection of human creativity and machine intelligence.
Exhibition Highlights
- 3 invited artists
- 32 selected artists from an international juried competition
- Artists representing 14 countries across five continents
Invited Artists
Featured Artists/Projects
- Aaron Oldenburg, Fractured Star Projections
- Addy Feuerstein, Artificial Nostalgia
- Allen Riley, FELIX – A Computer Program for the Study of Smooth and Striated Spaces
- Amy Muhoro, The Wound Becomes The Medicine
- Carolyn Rabbers, SHE
- Chi Kiu So, Nursing Home
- Ezra Cove, Gazelle with Grapefruit
- Gianluca Iadema, ever.rave
- Ian O’Neill, Most Dangerous Game
- Ilias Marmaras, De Krypten avatar. (Liberate your avatar from yourself)
- Immanuel Koh, Neural MONOBLOC Black
- Jennifer Gradecki, Cabinet of Cognition,Derek Curry
- Jeong Han Kim, Eye and Mind: Human–Human / Human–AI Drawing Sculptures
- Jie Shuai, My Life Jie Shuai, Poetry River
- Kaitlyn Jo Smith, Lights Out Kenneth Russo, Intimate Strangers
- Lucas Kuzma, Good Form
- Maa Kuu, The Paradox of This War
- Max Mesiats, Unrendered Childhood Michael Takeo Magruder, Casper Zebrafish [expanded]
- Nicol Eltzroth Rosendorf, Nihil³ River Zhihui Zhang, In the Absence of Sight Robin Champenois, Cortical Whispers
- Sabri Gökmen, Gothic Diffusion
- Santiago Pucacco, Sirena, Last approaches
- Scott Allen, Uncanny Squiggle -sketches-
- Shanshan Jiang, CLOWN
- Veronika Szücs & Maximilian Noichl, The 1000 Names of Macskusz Veronika Szücs, Samples from the Reptilian Core
- Yamin Xu, The Flower
Visit the Exhibition
The Arts Center of Brazos Valley 4180 Texas 6 Frontage Road College Station, TX 77845
Gallery Hours
- Monday–Friday: 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
- Saturday: 10:00–4:00 p.m.
- Closed Sunday
About the Organizers
Institute for Applied Creativity
The Institute for Applied Creativity is a forum for collaboration among domains and disciplines intent on creating a radiant future. We champion combinations of experimental, rational, intuitive and analytical methods to realize tangible accomplishments. The inherent creativity of individuals, the deep knowledge within disciplinary practice and research and the rapid pace of transformation in society collectively contribute to an institute that exercises iterative, regenerative and nimble practices.
College of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts
With a technology-infused foundation, the College of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts was created to bring together visual arts, performing arts, interactive media, visual computing and humanities. It’s for those who love to explore new ways of seeing the world and who understand the magic that can happen when beauty and technology merge. Leading the way are faculty and staff with significant experience working at the intersection of theory and practice across the arts, sciences and technology. This is home for actors, animators, musicians, dancers, composers, choreographers, painters, game designers, ethnomusicologists, art historians, costume designers, virtual production specialists and more.
The Arts Center of Brazos Valley
The Arts Center of Brazos Valley, a nonprofit organization chartered in 1970 by a group of visionary local arts patrons, was established to lead local arts advocacy and cultivate a vibrant arts community. Over 50 years later, the Arts Center now serves the 5,000-square-mile Brazos Valley region. Since 2008, it has provided over $4 million in direct funding support to arts organizations throughout the area.
Governed by a board of community leaders, the Arts Center faithfully serves as the leading advocate for arts and culture in Brazos, Burleson, Grimes, Leon, Madison, Robertson and Washington counties. It provides innovative and impactful artistic opportunities for both residents and visitors of the region.
Sponsors
Contact
If you have any questions or concerns, please email artfestival@tamu.edu.