Generative AI: A Discussion about Art and Technology
Saturday, July 18, 2026, 12:30 p.m.
What does it mean to make art in a world where machines can dream?
At Hillyer Art Space, we’re bringing together artists, technologists, and cultural thinkers for a wide-ranging conversation about artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and the evolving landscape of creativity. This program unfolds in dialogue with Ubiquitous Ghosts, an extraordinary solo exhibition by Taiwanese new media artist Tao Ya-Lun — two immersive VR installations and a video work that probe the spectral forces shaping contemporary life, from political ideology and consumer fantasy to war and exile.
Moderated by Nihal J. Krishan — award-winning tech and AI journalist and co-founder of Generative Series: Ai, Art & Culture — the conversation will move between Tao’s work and the broader questions it raises: How are artists using immersive technology to bear witness, to protest, to reconnect? What happens to the human experience of presence when we can be transported anywhere by a headset? And as AI and VR reshape what’s possible in creative practice, who gets to define what’s real?
Distinguished speakers include:
—Roger D. Eastman, Director of the Immersive Media Design University of Maryland-College Park
—Sandro Kereselidze, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of ARTECHOUSE, an experiential, technology-driven art company producing groundbreaking 21st-century art experiences.
—Mollye Bendell, an interdisciplinary artist with a focus in immersive and electronic media. Her solo work has been exhibited in venues such as the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Baltimore Museum of Art, the New York Electronic Arts Festival. She is also a founding member of media arts collective strikeWare.
Nihal J. Krishan
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Nihal is an award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in the Boston Globe, USA TODAY, MSNBC, the Huffington Post, and The Hindu. I appear regularly on TV and radio including NPR, SiriusXM, NewsMax and SkyTV among other outlets. My work recently won an international award for “Leading Washington’s tech policy conversations.”
Currently reporting on Tech Policy in Washington, D.C. as a Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) Fellow. I’ve been a reporter for the past decade in D.C. with FedScoop, the Washington Examiner, Mother Jones, The New Republic, and PBS Arizona.
Nihal regularly interviews U.S. Senators, Congressmen, heads of federal agencies and top tech executives in Washington and Silicon Valley. He has broken multiple stories of national interest regarding campaign finance, economic policy, Big Tech developments and the recent explosion of A.I.
Roger D. Eastman
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Roger D. Eastman is Director of the Immersive Media Design University of Maryland-College Park
He is a computer scientist whose research focuses on AI and robotics, computer vision and machine perception, and graphic visualization with VR and AR
Sandro Kereselidze
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Sandro Kereselidze is the Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of ARTECHOUSE, an experiential, technology-driven art company producing groundbreaking 21st-century art experiences in DC and beyond.
His vision for redefining how art is experienced has positioned ARTECHOUSE as a pioneer in immersive and experiential art in the United States and internationally. Under Sandro’s creative direction, ARTECHOUSE has become a leading platform for prominent artists including Refik Anadol, Daito Manabe, fuse*, Zach Lieberman, NONOTAK, and Adrien M. & Claire B. Collaborating with these artists and its in-house production team, ARTECHOUSE has produced more than 22 major exhibitions, 10 live shows, and 130 AR experiences, attracting over 1.1 million visitors worldwide.
These projects have been featured by outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, National Geographic, CNN, and The Washington Post. Since opening its first location in 2017, ARTECHOUSE has expanded to Washington, DC, New York City, and Miami Beach, as well as a mobile app, with Sandro continuing to pursue global expansion.
Mollye Bendell
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Mollye Bendell is an interdisciplinary artist with a focus in immersive and electronic media.
She is also a founding member of media arts collective strikeWare, which creates experiences grounded in our collective history, often using new technologies to emphasize the nowness of that history.
Mollye’s solo work has been exhibited in venues such as the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Baltimore Museum of Art, the New York Electronic Arts Festival, and Maryland Art Place. Public art commissions include Ladew Topiary Gardens and the City of Redmond, Washington. She has recently exhibited at CURRENTS New Media Festival, the BlackRock Center for the Arts and National Sawdust.
Mollye is also an Assistant Professor of Art at the University of Maryland. She holds a BA in Sculpture from the Glasgow School of Art and an MFA in Intermedia and Digital Arts from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She lives and works in Baltimore, Maryland.
