Uploaded March 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
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Sandra Rodriguez is a 2025 winner of the Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts.
Video directed by Aude Leroux-Lévesque and Sébastien Rist.
A presentation of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Independent Media Arts Alliance.
The Canada Council for the Arts is a federal, arm’s-length Crown corporation created by an Act of Parliament in 1957 (Canada Council for the Arts Act) “to foster and promote the study and enjoyment of, and the production of works in, the arts.”
For more information, visit https://en.ggarts.ca.
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Transcript:
Are we still human? Are we still good at it?
I am an emerging media artist. All these new technological toys are coming out, like virtual reality, extended reality and artificial intelligence.
I like to keep a door open for all the things that are taking over our lives, things we didn’t see coming.
The artwork isn’t in the technology. The artwork is in what you experience when faced with the mystery of what it is. And in how you pull on that thread to draw your audience towards something else.
I am what you could call an emulation of the voice and language patterns of Professor Noam Chomsky.
Projects are very different every time, but there is a through line. I noticed that I kept coming back to: What makes us human? And what do we choose to preserve of our humanity? And what do we forget that’s important to our humanity? That’s the question that always comes up.
What do you choose to replicate? What do you fake? What are we omitting? What are we leaving behind?
For me, what stands out in each of these projects is, what else is there? What is ground zero? I don’t try to find the answer.
It’s important, especially as an artist, to take the time to pause. Emerging media arts are often temporary. The tangibility of things is missing.
Sometimes, I use a process that’s a little counterintuitive, where I need to touch materials. And I go, “Ah, that makes me think!”
These materials… How do I teach artificial intelligence about them? How can I teach texture and materials? It becomes a way of thinking about the creative process.
Our experience of the world isn’t disembodied. How can we use all our data to enable us to experience the ability to feel in our bodies? Is there any way to bring a little bit of poetry into it all?
#GGArts2025 #SandraRodriguez #CanadaCouncil
Connect with us on social media:
Canada Council for the Arts
Instagram - instagram.com/canada.council
Facebook - facebook.com/canadacouncil
X - twitter.com/CanadaCouncil
LinkedIn - linkedin.com/company/canada-council-for-the-arts
Website - canadacouncil.ca
Art Bank
Instagram - instagram.com/artbank_banquedart
Facebook - facebook.com/CCartbank
YouTube - youtube.com/watch?v=x9fGIx7hZYk
Website - artbank.ca
CCUNESCO - Canadian Commission for UNESCO
Instagram - instagram.com/ccunesco
X - twitter.com/CCUNESCO
LinkedIn - linkedin.com/company/canadian-commission-for-unesco
Website - en.ccunesco.ca
Please like this video and subscribe to support the arts in Canada.
Sandra Rodriguez is a 2025 winner of the Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts.
Video directed by Aude Leroux-Lévesque and Sébastien Rist.
A presentation of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Independent Media Arts Alliance.
The Canada Council for the Arts is a federal, arm’s-length Crown corporation created by an Act of Parliament in 1957 (Canada Council for the Arts Act) “to foster and promote the study and enjoyment of, and the production of works in, the arts.”
For more information, visit https://en.ggarts.ca.
****
Transcript:
Are we still human? Are we still good at it?
I am an emerging media artist. All these new technological toys are coming out, like virtual reality, extended reality and artificial intelligence.
I like to keep a door open for all the things that are taking over our lives, things we didn’t see coming.
The artwork isn’t in the technology. The artwork is in what you experience when faced with the mystery of what it is. And in how you pull on that thread to draw your audience towards something else.
I am what you could call an emulation of the voice and language patterns of Professor Noam Chomsky.
Projects are very different every time, but there is a through line. I noticed that I kept coming back to: What makes us human? And what do we choose to preserve of our humanity? And what do we forget that’s important to our humanity? That’s the question that always comes up.
What do you choose to replicate? What do you fake? What are we omitting? What are we leaving behind?
For me, what stands out in each of these projects is, what else is there? What is ground zero? I don’t try to find the answer.
It’s important, especially as an artist, to take the time to pause. Emerging media arts are often temporary. The tangibility of things is missing.
Sometimes, I use a process that’s a little counterintuitive, where I need to touch materials. And I go, “Ah, that makes me think!”
These materials… How do I teach artificial intelligence about them? How can I teach texture and materials? It becomes a way of thinking about the creative process.
Our experience of the world isn’t disembodied. How can we use all our data to enable us to experience the ability to feel in our bodies? Is there any way to bring a little bit of poetry into it all?
#GGArts2025 #SandraRodriguez #CanadaCouncil
Connect with us on social media:
Canada Council for the Arts
Instagram - instagram.com/canada.council
Facebook - facebook.com/canadacouncil
X - twitter.com/CanadaCouncil
LinkedIn - linkedin.com/company/canada-council-for-the-arts
Website - canadacouncil.ca
Art Bank
Instagram - instagram.com/artbank_banquedart
Facebook - facebook.com/CCartbank
YouTube - youtube.com/watch?v=x9fGIx7hZYk
Website - artbank.ca
CCUNESCO - Canadian Commission for UNESCO
Instagram - instagram.com/ccunesco
X - twitter.com/CCUNESCO
LinkedIn - linkedin.com/company/canadian-commission-for-unesco
Website - en.ccunesco.ca
