The weekend's cultural anchor: artists performing with AI as their instrument through generative visuals, live-coded sound, and works-in-progress from SFU's Metacreation Lab. Research backed by the Canada Arts Council. Open to the world.
Philippe Pasquier, Erica Lapadat-Janzen, Arshia Sobhan Sarbandi, Kris Krüg, and the Metacreation Lab set the tone for the weekend: projection-mapped generative visuals, audio-reactive systems, and live-coding performance. Artists performing with AI as their instrument, not their replacement.
The weekend closes with a looser late-night DEFRAG set after the Squatchies and 2027 reveal. Expect Arshia's calligraphic AI work, experimental sound, and works-in-progress from the research-creation community around artist-led model training and cultural protocols.
DEFRAG co-lead. Canada Arts Council-funded. Creative AI researcher and performer.
Vancouver-based new media artist and creative strategist. Collaborated with Metacreation Lab on 'Dreamscape' using Autolume for artist-led model training. Meetup #25 speaker.
2025 Squatchy winner (Generative Culture). Research on generative AI for calligraphic Arabic script, supervised by Philippe Pasquier. Major contributor to the open-source AutoLoom project. Workshops worldwide on ethical model training.
Festival director. Runs the Vancouver AI Meetup (28+ months). RAP Workshop lead instructor.
DEFRAG isn't just a performance series — it's the public face of an active research program at SFU's Metacreation Lab. Some of what you'll see on stage is drawn directly from these threads.
A framework for consensual model training and cultural sovereignty. Working with Indigenous communities to define how — and whether — AI systems can be trained on cultural material.
Research-creation project establishing an elder-consent framework for digital reconstruction. How does cultural IP translate into generative systems?
Custom training on individual artist portfolios — with explicit permission and artist-led parameters. A direct alternative to mass scraping.
Generative systems designed for human co-creation, not replacement. Tools that amplify the artist's voice rather than substitute for it.
The research home of DEFRAG. Canada Arts Council-funded research-creation program.
Primary funder of the DEFRAG creative AI program.
Cross-collaboration with Kevin Friel's AI Film Club for the weekend film layer.
DEFRAG is included with the 2026 Festival Pass: the opening-night live set and the closing-social late-night set. VIP gets reserved lounge access across the festival.