Whitney Biennial 2026: Does an AI God Have an Ass?

In the lecture-performance Does an AI God Have an Ass? Whitney Biennial 2026 artist Zach Blas traces a surprising historical thread from Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel frescoes to contemporary AI culture in Silicon Valley. Blas examines how the tech industry’s religious fantasies about artificial intelligence erase embodiment and make invisible the human labor that underlies it. This piece connects to Blas’ installation currently on display in the Biennial, CULTUS (2023), which is part two of his Silicon Traces trilogy about the fantasies and ideologies that influence the tech industry’s drive toward domination.

Following the performance, Blas is joined in conversation by writer, curator, and critic Amy Hale to discuss his practice and how we contend with the religiosity undergirding Silicon Valley’s power structures.