WATCH NOW: Lawrence Lek’s ‘Guanyin: Confessions of a Former Carebot’ for Frieze London Artist Award 2024

London-based artist and filmmaker Lawrence Lek has been announced as the recipient of the 2024 Artist Award at Frieze London. The award – in partnership with Forma – gives an early- or mid-career artist the opportunity to realize an ambitious new commission at Frieze London. Previous recipients include Adham Faramawy (2023), Abbas Zahedi (2022), Sung Tieu (2021), Alberta Whittle (2020) and Himali Singh Soin (2019).  

Lek’s work often addresses the moral dilemmas around AI while exploring the creative potential of digital worldbuilding, shot through with dark, absurdist humour (his 2024 work Empty Rider features the televised trial of a self-driving car following a botched kidnapping). This year’s Artist Awards in Seoul and London are responding to the same brief, with both Choi Goen, winner of the Frieze Seoul Artist Award, and Lek considering advanced technologies in their work. Choi’s project examines the materiality of redundant and discarded technology, while Lek draws from gaming to mine the social, spiritual and emotional impact of artificial intelligence.

A Londoner born in Frankfurt of Malaysian-Chinese heritage, Lek addresses global complexities – real and virtual – in his work. His multimedia installation for the Artist Award commission, Guanyin: Confessions of a Former Carebot, combines narrative worldbuilding and mechanical sculpture in a gaming environment, where players gradually uncover the story of the eponymous ‘carebot’: a cyborg therapist developed to talk other AI out of existential self-destruction.

The audience follows Guanyin (Iiterally, ‘the one who listens’ and named after the Buddhist goddess of mercy) as she examines Vanguard, the self-driving car from Empty Rider. Haunting and meditative, the project draws inspiration from ‘walking simulators’ – video games in which players explore an environment. On Lek’s soundtrack, Guanyin’s voice accompanies each player’s journey, recounting journal entries, company reports and messages to her nonhuman patient.

A jury of industry professionals selected Lek’s proposal, including Canan Batur (curator and researcher) and Mariam Zulfiqar (Director, Artangel), alongside Eva Langret (Director, Frieze London) and Chris Rawcliffe (Artistic Director, Forma).

Rawcliffe said of the award: ‘Lawrence Lek’s practice carries out essential interrogations into the use of AI and its relationship with the human experience. He simultaneously pushes the boundaries of disciplines and crafts worlds that critique the use of new technologies, and I look forward to seeing such an innovative and relevant work realized within the Frieze London fair this year.’ 

‘We eagerly anticipate Lawrence Lek’s commission,’ added Langret, ‘which approaches ideas around the future of AI. As part of our mission to promote artist-centred programming, it is always joy to commission artists who engage with the complex issues of today.’

The Frieze London Artist Award 2024 is co-commissioned and co-produced by Frieze and Forma. 

Further Information 

Frieze London 2024 takes place alongside Frieze Masters from 9 – 13 October 2024 in The Regent’s Park. Both fairs are supported by Global Lead Partner Deutsche Bank, marking over two decades of shared commitment to artistic excellence. 

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^{Lawrence Lek would like to thank the creative team:}

^{Mati Bratkowski (Game Design & Development), Tea Strazicic (Character Design), awe IX (Game Programming), Case Miller (AI Direction), Laure Michelon (AI Programming), James Stringer (Creative Technical Consultant), Tamika Batalova (Design Research), HS Design Studios (Fabrication), Luke Felstead (Fabrication Research), Silke Weissbach (Studio Assistant)}