Dayana Matasheva is a Montreal-based visual artist and writer originally from Uzbekistan. She works across video, digital art, and sculpture, focusing on how algorithms and artificial intelligence impact the textual and visual fabric of modern society. Her academic background in Philology (2015) and Film Production (2020) informs her interest in contemporary folklore, pseudofiction, and digital vernaculars. As co-founder of the artist duo DemonLovers Inc., with Edson Niebla, Matasheva sheds light on the widespread, albeit invisible, role of algorithmic systems and non-human agency in consumer culture, fine art, and fashion. Their debut exhibition, The Salon, integrated AI into every facet of its production, highlighting how it influences material and digital design choices. Matasheva’s work has been exhibited in solo and group shows at festivals such as HTMlles and Filministes, and she has participated in residencies including Ada X and Dazibao. Currently, she is developing an experimental dystopian novel, supported by the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, alongside a feature-length film focusing on the conceptual possibilities of post-human storytelling.

Workshop summary: This workshop explores the concept of ArtSpeak, otherwise known as International Art English, the jargon-heavy language used in the fine art world. Originally developed to legitimize and intellectualize art by bringing together theory and practice during the modernist and conceptual art movements, ArtSpeak has since become increasingly opaque and self-referential. We will examine its evolution and how it now serves as a form of gatekeeping, creating an invisible barrier around the art world. ArtSpeak helps uphold the otherwise unclear distinction between fine art and consumer culture, with its exclusivity reinforcing the intent behind fine art rather than any inherent quality of the work itself. This workshop is participatory and conversational.