{"id":1779999,"date":"2026-02-19T17:03:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T14:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1779999"},"modified":"2026-02-19T17:03:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T14:03:00","slug":"this-collective-is-radically-rethinking-what-it-means-to-make-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1779999","title":{"rendered":"This collective is radically rethinking what it means to make art"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/798\/227-146-798-532\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437908.jpg&#8221;]<\/p>\n<article class=\"main-article standard \">\n<div class=\"article-main-content article-wrapper has-media-but-its-an-image\" data-status=\"loaded\" data-primary-article=\"true\" data-url=\"\/art-photography\/article\/69674\/1\/radically-rethink-what-means-to-make-art-restless-egg-technology-berlin-deepmind\" data-article-id=\"69674\">\n<header class=\"article-header has-landscape-image no-media\">\n<div class=\"wrapper dg-max-width\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<figure class=\"main-img has-figcaption\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"1.78\" data-template=\"Standard Article\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Acid City (2026) still\" class=\"img\" height=\"729\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/1296\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437908.jpg\" width=\"1296\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"inner\"><span class=\"credit\">Jack Wedge, Will Freudenheim (members of Restless Egg <span class=\"nowrap\">Batch 0)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"meta\">\n<div class=\"inner\"><time datetime=\"2026-02-19T17:03:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"19 February 2026\"><span class=\"month\">February<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"19\">19,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<div class=\"titles\">\n<div class=\"tags\">\n<div class=\"sections\"><a class=\"category vertical - art-photography\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\">Art &amp; Photography<\/a><br \/>\n\/<br \/>\n<a class=\"series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/feature\">Feature<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"standard-tag-container\"><a class=\"standard-category\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\">Art &amp; Photography<\/a> \/<br \/>\n<a class=\"standard-series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/feature\">Feature<\/a><\/div>\n<h1 class=\"title\"><span>This collective is radically rethinking what it means to <span class=\"nowrap\">make art<\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n<div class=\"standfirst\">\n<h2>We spoke with Restless Egg, an &#8216;artist-founder&#8217; incubator looking to the tech world for inspiration and aiming to build \u2018venture-backable, scalable companies and products\u2019, from robot dog fights to AI aquariums. Is this the future <span class=\"nowrap\">of art?<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<p><time datetime=\"2026-02-19T17:03:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"19 February 2026\"><span class=\"month\">February<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"19\">19,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><time datetime=\"2026-02-19T17:03:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"19 February 2026\"><span class=\"month\">February<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"19\">19,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/p>\n<div class=\"providers\">\n<div class=\"contributors\"><span class=\"contributor\" data-contributor-role=\"Text\"><span class=\"contributor-role\">Text<\/span><a class=\"contributor-name\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/user\/ThomWaite\">Thom Waite<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article-body-container\">\n<div class=\"article-body wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>In 2026, we\u2019ve become accustomed to the idea that we\u2019re living through a time of radical change, and basically powerless to do anything about it. Multibillion-dollar companies move so fast (and break so much) that we can\u2019t make sense of our new world before it whistles by, making way for the next thing. And because the public can\u2019t keep pace with the rate of change \u2013 never mind glacial government regulators \u2013 new products and technologies are rolled out with a reckless disregard for their knock-on effects. So who\u2019s left to rely on, to show us what\u2019s really going on and how it might change our lives in years to come?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In the past, we might have counted on artists to offer us a glimpse behind the curtain. As filmmaker Adam Curtis <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/film-tv\/article\/68120\/1\/adam-curtis-dubious-that-art-can-change-world-shifty-documentary-interview-bbc\"><span>told Dazed<\/span><\/a><span> in 2025, art is at its best when it\u2019s describing how it feels to live in the present day and \u201cshowing you how power works\u201d. But today, does it really <\/span><em><span>feel <\/span><\/em><span>like art is equipped to describe the world we\u2019re living in? Like the rest of us, many artists, performers, and musicians feel <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/article\/59695\/1\/the-treachery-of-images-in-the-age-of-artificial-intelligence-luke-nugent\">left behind<\/a>, cast aside, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/article\/57996\/1\/what-ai-image-scraping-how-can-artists-fight-back-meta-getty-stable-diffusion\">exploited<\/a> by technologies like AI. A single painting or photo series can take months to create, in which time several companies could have lived and died in Silicon Valley. And then, you still have to wade through a sea of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/article\/68257\/1\/how-kitsch-became-aesthetic-right-wing-america-dhs-alligator-alcatraz-meme\"><span>political propaganda<\/span><\/a><span> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/life-culture\/article\/69360\/1\/slop-enshittification-2025-internet-implode-shumon-basar-gunseli-yalcinkaya\"><span>AI-powered slop<\/span><\/a><span> to actually lay eyes on the finished product. Or actually go to a gallery&#8230; which is happening <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theartnewspaper.com\/2026\/02\/13\/london-national-gallery-to-cut-staff-as-it-faces-82-million-pound-deficit\"><span>less<\/span><\/a><span> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.standard.co.uk\/news\/london\/tate-museum-visitor-numbers-pandemic-fall-b1218046.html\"><span>less<\/span><\/a><span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In other words, if artists really are<\/span><em><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/em><span>going to describe our radical times, it might require a radical rethinking of art itself. This isn\u2019t unheard of. In the first half of the 20th century, for example, Dada artists presented found objects as art (see: Marcel Duchamp\u2019s infamous <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tate.org.uk\/art\/artworks\/duchamp-fountain-t07573\"><span>urinal<\/span><\/a><span>) as a disgusted response to the culture that started World War I, and in doing so reshaped art for decades to come. Could we see a similar revolution today, to catch up with our own troubled times?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>This is one of the big questions that motivates <a href=\"https:\/\/restlessegg.com\/discover\">Restless Egg<\/a>, a London-based incubator for \u201cartist-founders\u201d (a term it uses for an \u201cemerging genre\u201d of creative people whose work sits between art, technology, and building commercial products). In practice, this takes the form of a six-month incubation programme for creatives experimenting with technology, plus investments of up to $200,000 in exchange for a stake in products that turn out to be a financial success. \u201cThe incubator responds to a moment that\u2019s happening in the world at large, and at the specific intersection of arts and technology,\u201d explains co-founder William Morgan. This moment is the product of a few different causes, he adds. \u201cThere\u2019s economic precarity, as old funding mechanisms are hollowed out by austerity measures. And also aspects of technological innovation, as AI capabilities proliferate, as well as the existential crises created by them.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dazed-gallery has-23-images \">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<header>\n<div class=\"info\"><span class=\"heading\">Restless Egg: Did DeepMind need <span class=\"nowrap\">Theme Park?<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"gallery\">\n<div class=\"gallery-thumbs\">\n<div class=\"gallery-thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/gallery\/36704\/0\/restless-egg-did-deepmind-need-theme-park\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Restless Egg: Did DeepMind need Theme Park?\" class=\"img\" height=\"2000\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/320\/0-0-3000-2000\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437887.jpg\" width=\"3000\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/gallery\/36704\/1\/restless-egg-did-deepmind-need-theme-park\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Restless Egg: Did DeepMind need Theme Park?\" class=\"img\" height=\"2000\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/320\/0-0-3000-2000\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437897.jpg\" width=\"3000\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/gallery\/36704\/2\/restless-egg-did-deepmind-need-theme-park\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Restless Egg: Did DeepMind need Theme Park?\" class=\"img\" height=\"1340\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/320\/0-495-2010-1340\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437902.jpg\" width=\"2010\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/gallery\/36704\/3\/restless-egg-did-deepmind-need-theme-park\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Restless Egg: Did DeepMind need Theme Park?\" class=\"img\" height=\"384\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/320\/0-119-576-384\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437886.jpg\" width=\"576\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/gallery\/36704\/4\/restless-egg-did-deepmind-need-theme-park\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Restless Egg: Did DeepMind need Theme Park?\" class=\"img\" height=\"1340\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/320\/0-518-2010-1340\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437890.jpg\" width=\"2010\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/gallery\/36704\/5\/restless-egg-did-deepmind-need-theme-park\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Restless Egg: Did DeepMind need Theme Park?\" class=\"img\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/320\/0-91-588-392\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437885.jpg\" width=\"588\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-footer\">Gallery \/ 23 images<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>In late January 2026, Restless Egg\u2019s first official \u2018batch\u2019 of artist-founders gathered at <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/sybil.gg\/?hl=en\"><span>Sybil<\/span><\/a><span>, a creative centre in Berlin, for an art and tech \u2018salon\u2019 themed around the question, \u201cDid DeepMind need <\/span><em><span>Theme Park<\/span><\/em><span>?\u201d In case that doesn\u2019t mean anything to you, here&#8217;s a quick anecdote: before founding the leading AI lab DeepMind, a teenaged Demis Hassabis worked on the video game <\/span><em><span>Theme Park<\/span><\/em><span>, which enabled players to create their own parks and manage everything from the rollercoasters to the placement of the bins and bathrooms. He has often credited the game\u2019s simple feedback systems \u2013\u00a0put a food vendor too close to a rollercoaster and the virtual visitors would throw up \u2013 as the launchpad for many of his ideas about AI. In other words, his early creative experiments directly shaped the path of the technology as we know it today (and likely, therefore, the course of human history).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Over a frosty weekend in Berlin, vanguard artists including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/article\/68419\/1\/art-technology-british-council-mat-dryhurst-linda-dounia-sougwen-chung-interview\">Mat Dryhurst<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/article\/56953\/1\/ian-cheng-internet-nervous-systems-berghain-interview\">Ian Cheng<\/a>, and Simon Denney spoke about how to get art back in the loop, in an age when it feels like Big Tech has tight control over narratives about what our future could look like. Meanwhile, a competitive salon format gave artist-founders an opportunity to showcase what they\u2019ve been working on during the programme and debate it with the public. Can our iPhones be repurposed to produce a sense of awe and wonder, not just doom and despair? Would it be better if AI companions could get bored and choose to walk away? Is it ethical to watch two robots fight to the \u2018death\u2019?<\/span><span> (Many of these conversations can be accessed via <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.is-this-soup.com\/public\/restless\"><span>Soup<\/span><\/a><span>, an interactive app by the writer and machine learning engineer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/karin.valis\/\">Karin Valis<\/a>.)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"2f626ce5-3ee4-42c7-be37-b3f500a05d8e\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/678\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437882.jpg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"1.48\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Soup by Karin Valis, screenshot\" class=\"img\" height=\"457\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/678\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437882.jpg\" width=\"678\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"credit\">Soup by <span class=\"nowrap\">Karin Valis<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>These questions are rarely asked by the people actually developing frontier technologies, which is why it\u2019s on artists to set the stage for the conversation and push it into the public eye. Take Yaya Labs, for example: the company run by Ben Ditto, <\/span><span>Si\u00e2na-Le\u00e0nn Douglas, and Edwin Eyre has used its time<\/span><span> in the Restless Egg incubator to lay the foundations for a competitive robot dog fighting league. \u201cAs a startup, we\u2019ve spent years trying to explain complicated ideas to people, but you don\u2019t need to explain this at all,\u201d Ditto explains. \u201cIt\u2019s robot dogs, fighting. That\u2019s it.\u201c <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Designed to appeal to our \u201clizard-brain\u201c while its more intellectual implications fly under the radar, the project demonstrates how close we are to realising the dreams (or dystopias) of science fiction from decades gone by. \u201cThe amazing thing about technology in 2026,\u201c Ditto adds, \u201cis that a lot of ideas which would have been [in the] pure sci-fi realm are now very accessible to the average person.\u201c There\u2019s also a healthy dose of \u201cdark humour\u201c in the project. But as Douglas points out: \u201cYou have to be embedded in the culture that you\u2019re critiquing, in order to mirror the techno-dystopic landscape that we live in.\u201c<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>\u201cYou have to be embedded in the culture that you\u2019re critiquing, in order to mirror the techno-dystopic landscape that we live in\u201c \u2013 Si\u00e2na-Leann Douglas<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Of course, a product that explores complex ethical ideas, via a sport with \u201cawful\u201c associations like dog fighting, isn\u2019t necessarily an easy sell to risk-averse moneymen, no matter how entertaining you make it. That\u2019s where Restless Egg comes in. \u201cIn the past, we\u2019ve had a bunch of different ideas and approached various investors, but no one really knew what to make of us,\u201c says Eyre. \u201cWhen we found Restless Egg, it was like they totally understood our vision, and paved the way for a broader network of investors to understand us.\u201c<\/span><\/p>\n<p>For Jack Self and Chau Pham, the brains behind Self Engineering, the Restless Egg incubator also served as a bridge between two distinct worlds. <span>\u201cI<\/span><span>\u2019ve spent the last 10 years working in the tech industry, mostly in engineering roles,\u201c says Pham. \u201cI didn\u2019t know that you could do technology in other ways, to interrogate it with a more creative sensibility, until I stumbled upon Restless Egg through a friend. That\u2019s how I met Jack.\u201c Now, the pair are working together to build software that prioritises the user over the platform. \u201cWe are overwhelmed by the media that we consume, and by our inability to control what we see, and as a result we\u2019re losing a sense of ourselves,\u201c Self says. \u201cWe have a long term product that we think can help people with this, but right now we\u2019re working on a small, free piece of software. If it works, not only will you not use social media ever again, but you won\u2019t miss it.\u201c<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"fb519a71-301c-4eb9-9a47-b3f500aeb5c2\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/576\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437886.jpg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"0.75\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Restless Egg: Did DeepMind need Theme Park?\" class=\"img\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/576\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437886.jpg\" width=\"576\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"caption\">Restless Egg: Did DeepMind need <span class=\"nowrap\">Theme Park?<\/span><\/span><span class=\"credit\">Courtesy of <span class=\"nowrap\">Restless Egg<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Again, this creative application of technology is a hard pitch in a tech industry that\u2019s built on selling ads and stealing our data, but both worlds could benefit from colliding more, Self suggests. \u201cMy initial experience is that the tech sector understands a lot less about culture than I thought, and that I know vastly less about tech than I thought. But we\u2019ve all got those friends who are a really weird couple, and it shouldn\u2019t really work but somehow it does. I think Restless Egg is that meeting space where these two completely different worlds are trying to make a go of it, and that\u2019s very exciting to me\u201c<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Morgan goes a step further, describing experiments with frontier tech as an obligation for artists who want to help decide what the future could look like. \u201cTechnologists are in the greatest position of power they\u2019ve ever been in, and the engineering class is increasingly empowered to govern,\u201d he explains. \u201cSo if artists want a say in what the contours and character of society look like, they don\u2019t have a choice but to participate in the conversation about technology.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>\u201cIf artists want a say in what the contours and character of society look like, they don\u2019t have a choice but to participate in the conversation about technology\u201d \u2013 William Morgan<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>It would be a mistake, after all, to think that artists have <em>zero <\/em>input on the evolution of human technologies. \u201cThere\u2019s definitely a feedback loop,\u201d Ditto suggests. \u201cWhat good creatives bring to it is critical thinking, aesthetics, and culture.\u00a0The bad thing that creatives bring to it is absolute Luddite thinking.\u201d Everyone is familiar with the flood of comments under any AI discourse online, which reject it on principle. \u201cThat\u2019s fine,\u201d he adds, \u201cbut it&#8217;s not going to do anything to the discourse. China and America have trillions of dollars pumping into this thing. We\u2019re modeling whole countries around AI infrastructure. You\u2019re posting a \u2018Fuck AI\u2019 GIF. There\u2019s a call for the art world to educate themselves about technology properly, so that they really understand what\u2019s going on. If you don\u2019t really understand what tech is doing, and where it\u2019s going, you can\u2019t have an interesting discussion about it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Halcyon Mesh is another group of Restless Egg artist-founders \u2013 Dean Grenier, Pearl Wong, and Justin Boreta \u2013 who support the opportunity for <span>artists to work as technologists and build products, as the clearest route to wresting back control over our future. \u201cIt means we might actually have a chance to build the world that we spend our time in,\u201d says Grenier. <\/span>Channelling experience in music, design, and machine-learning, they aim to transform our phones into \u2018generative field recorders\u2019 that create a visual record of the local soundscape.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"71783e0e-9505-4fd6-86ad-b3f500aeb967\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/2000\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437887.jpg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"1.49\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Restless Egg: Did DeepMind need Theme Park?\" class=\"img\" height=\"2013\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/786\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437887.jpg\" width=\"3000\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"caption\">Restless Egg: Did DeepMind need <span class=\"nowrap\">Theme Park?<\/span><\/span><span class=\"credit\">Courtesy of <span class=\"nowrap\">Restless Egg<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>\u201cWe\u2019re really obsessed with invoking awe and wonder,\u201d says Grenier. \u201cIn the marketplace today, technology is all too often being used to distract us, and make us feel terrible about ourselves. We want to make technology that allows people to connect with the moment, and with their bodies. We\u2019re kind of utopians. We\u2019re the hippies in the room.\u201d But, as Wong cuts in, they\u2019re also \u201cbattle hardened and pragmatic\u201d from years in the \u201crave trenches\u201d \u2013 and while \u201cstartup land and artist land are very egocentric places\u201d, Restless Egg has served as a hands-off container to let that idealism and experience flourish.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>According to Restless Egg co-founder Sam Lipnick, the cross-pollination between art and technology also goes some way to solving the dilemma posed earlier: how can art compete with the speed and scale of Big Tech as we move through the 2020s? \u201cThe best way to get an idea in front of as many eyes as possible 100 years ago was the written word, a few years later it was radio, and television a few years after that,\u201d he points out. \u201cNow, it\u2019s the computer in your hand, where millions of people can see it at once.\u201d As a creative person, why would you deny yourself that audience?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>\u201cMaybe some old forms need to be reinvented, maybe some new ones need to be adopted, maybe others need to be abandoned\u201d \u2013 William Morgan<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>The project goes beyond just making art for phone screens and robots, though. Restless Egg also encourages creatives to reimagine how they create, distribute, and monetise their work on a large scale. This echoes a broader shift in the art world today, as artists like Dryhurst and Holly Herndon experiment with new forms of creative ownership in the age of AI, and entrepreneurs like Yancey Strickler push for the creation of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/article\/66354\/1\/boiling-point-how-do-we-create-a-better-art-world-mat-dryhurst-yancey-strickler\">new economic structures<\/a> like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.artistcorporations.com\/\">Artist Corporations<\/a>. The NFT market \u2013 despite its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/article\/69152\/1\/rise-fall-future-digital-art-metakovan-olafur-eliasson-robert-alice-nfts\">infamous crash<\/a> \u2013 serves as yet more evidence of the hunger for a new way of doing things. Controversially, perhaps, Restless Egg borrows more from the strategies of the tech startup, aiming to foster artists and artworks that double as \u201cventure-backable, scalable companies [and] products that people want\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Already, as Morgan points out, the \u201cInstagrammification of the artworld\u201d has seen social media feeds become a professional tool that artists are compelled<\/span><span>to participate in if they want to reach an audience. \u201cThere\u2019s all of these mechanisms that grind artists to a pulp,\u201d he adds. \u201cHow do you navigate that? Maybe some old forms need to be reinvented, maybe some new ones need to be adopted, maybe others need to be abandoned.\u201d Ideally, adds the third Restless Egg co-founder, Sylvan Rackham, new models for art could also place the means of production in artists\u2019 hands; this would allow them to \u201cnudge the direction of technology\u201d rather than adapting their own work for billion-dollar corporations that rarely have their best interests at heart.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"68316691-2768-4d7f-b02d-b3f500aeb48d\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/588\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437885.jpg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"0.75\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Restless Egg: Did DeepMind need Theme Park?\" class=\"img\" height=\"787\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/588\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437885.jpg\" width=\"588\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"caption\">Restless Egg: Did DeepMind need <span class=\"nowrap\">Theme Park?<\/span><\/span><span class=\"credit\">Courtesy of <span class=\"nowrap\">Restless Egg<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>For artists like the oil painters-turned-game designers Fisheye and Riven Chen \u2013 AKA Hidden Fish, who are developing an aquarium for networked AI companions that evolve alongside the user \u2013 this has required making some radical changes. \u201cWhen we create work as independent artists, we never ask for feedback, and we don\u2019t care about how people feel [about] or perceive our works,\u201d Fisheye explains. \u201cBut for a product, it\u2019s 100 per cent the reverse. From the start, we observe deeply and empathise with the target audience. It\u2019s exciting. For me, it\u2019s about bringing our creation to a much larger world, to really impact people\u2019s lifestyles.\u201d Erica Hu and Serene Liu, the artist-founders behind Glia, have a similar desire to touch physical reality via their \u201csentient interface\u201d that helps people remember, relive, and reflect upon moments, people, and places in their lives. \u201cThe question we think about a lot,\u201d says Hu, \u201cis how to engineer and design empathy within a piece of technology.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>\u201cThe next era of tech requires founders who can create products that aren\u2019t just built for stickiness, but for making meaning&#8230; and for having fun on the computer again\u201d \u2013 Sam Lipnick<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>To some, of course, adopting the tactics of Silicon Valley will seem defeatist, and phrases like \u201cventure-backable, scalable companies\u201d will leave a bitter taste in the mouth. On the other hand, Restless Egg see the artist-founder model as the best way to help change the dynamics of the tech industry itself, and define a new kind of \u2018value\u2019 that goes beyond just making another billion dollars. \u201cThe last era of tech was optimised for engagement, and that Silicon Valley model produces real harms,\u201d says Lipnick. \u201cWhat the next era requires is founders who can create culturally relevant products that aren\u2019t just built for stickiness, but for making meaning, for more embodiment and a greater capacity for joy&#8230; for having fun on the computer again.\u201d Even as AI forces businesses to change in many ways, the odds of this change taking place don\u2019t look good for as long as developers and CEOs are left to their own devices.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThere is this lingering specter of engagement, click rates and time-on-device,\u201d Lipnick adds, \u201cand I think if we continue down that path, we\u2019ll continue to see more of the obvious negative effects. I genuinely believe that the next era of technology <em>has <\/em>to be built by artist-founders.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"217f6b96-0cce-4197-82c0-b3f500aedc7f\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/2000\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437894.jpg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"1.49\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Restless Egg: Did DeepMind need Theme Park?\" class=\"img\" height=\"2013\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/786\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437894.jpg\" width=\"3000\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"caption\">Restless Egg: Did DeepMind need <span class=\"nowrap\">Theme Park?<\/span><\/span><span class=\"credit\">Courtesy of <span class=\"nowrap\">Restless Egg<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>\u201cIt really does feel like there\u2019s some something restless, almost like the pendulum is finally swinging back because we\u2019re so fed up with how Big Tech has monopolised and capitalised on our attention and our data,\u201d agrees Hu. \u201cThere\u2019s almost this collective awareness: how can we take the future back into our hands again?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>For the founders of Restless Egg, and many of the artist-founders in its 2026 cohort, Brian Eno\u2019s idea of the \u201cscenius\u201d is a constant reference point for how to channel this collective awareness. In case you\u2019re unfamiliar, Eno coined the word in the 1990s to describe \u201cthe intelligence and intuition of a whole cultural scene\u201d that can produce something greater than the sum of its parts. As a concept, it pushed back against the art world\u2019s myth of the lone genius, but also highlighted the value of collaboration and freely-shared ideas. For Self Engineering\u2019s Chau Pham, this is a major component of the incubator itself. \u201c<\/span><span>Obviously, the funding is important,\u201d she says. \u201cBut it\u2019s also really helpful to be in the room with people with similar sensibilities and experiences, going through the process together and asking the same questions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>\u201cThere\u2019s this collective awareness: how can we take the future back into our hands again?\u201d \u2013 Erica Hu<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Has Restless Egg managed to find a model that can actually sustain this emerging scenius, enable its best work, and make it stick? Even the founders admit that it\u2019s probably too early to say. With one official cohort under its belt \u2013 plus last year\u2019s \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/restlessegg.com\/portfolio\">Batch 0<\/a>\u2019 \u2013 the incubator is planning to support up to 100 new artist-founders over the next few years. \u201cFor us, it\u2019s a series of experiments,\u201d says Rackham, with the goal of figuring out the infrastructure required to create \u201csomething that\u2019s more than a flash in the pan\u201d or reliant on a volatile crypto token. In the meantime, it could at least spark some fresh ideas about how to change art and tech alike \u2013 and hopefully get a grip on the present in the process.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline-last\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! Get The Drop<\/h1>\n<div class=\"meta-row\">\n<p class=\"meta\">Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"confirmation\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<p class=\"confirmation-title\">Thank you. You have been subscribed<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<footer class=\"article-footer\">\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<div class=\"article-series\">\n<h4 class=\"heading\">More on these topics<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-series\"><a class=\"series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\">Art &amp; Photography<\/a><a class=\"series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/feature\">Feature<\/a><a class=\"series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/tag\/technology\">Technology<\/a><a class=\"series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/tag\/artificial-intelligence\">Artificial Intelligence<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/footer>\n<div class=\"grid\">\n<div class=\"lava-lamp\">\n<div class=\"lava-lamp-text-container\">\n<h3 class=\"lava-lamp-subheading\">Expand your creative community and connect with 15,000 creatives from around the world.<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"grid section-header\">\n<div class=\"section-header__link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/article\/69674\/1\/art-photography\"><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"section-header__title\">READ MORE<\/h2>\n<p><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"grid tag-article-list\">\n<div class=\"swiper swiper-latest\">\n<div class=\"swiper-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"swiper-slide list-element\">\n<div class=\"scard-latest__section\">\n<div class=\"card-latest__wrapper\"><a class=\"card-latest\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/article\/69675\/1\/roe-ethridge-rude-in-a-good-way-loose-joints-photo-book-photography-interview\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"card-latest__img-wrapper\"><span class=\"image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Roe_Ethridge_Rude_In_the_Good_Way_10\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/480\/0-188-2000-1330\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437915.jpg\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"card-latest__content\">\n<h3 class=\"card-latest__title\">Photographer Roe Ethridge on sexuality and serendipity <\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><a class=\"card-latest\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/article\/69616\/1\/paintings-daily-life-in-gaza-marwan-nassar-survive-witness-p21-gallery-london\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"card-latest__img-wrapper\"><span class=\"image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Untitled, 2025, 30x20cm \" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/480\/0-735-2170-1443\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437009.jpg\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"card-latest__content\">\n<h3 class=\"card-latest__title\">These haunting paintings depict daily life in Gaza<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><a class=\"card-latest\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/fashion\/article\/69580\/1\/the-north-face-red-box-line-loyle-carner-ambassador\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"card-latest__img-wrapper\">\n<p class=\"optional-paragraph\">The North Face<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Tom Schwimbeck Loyle Carner Red Box 2\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/480\/0-0-1972-1312\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/6\/1436626.png\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"card-latest__content\">\n<h3 class=\"card-latest__title\">The North Face joins forces with Loyle Carner for Red Box Live<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"swiper-slide list-element\">\n<div class=\"scard-latest__section\">\n<div class=\"card-latest__wrapper\"><a class=\"card-latest\" 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href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/article\/69600\/1\/romance-valentines-day-photo-series-lust-love-desire-photography\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"card-latest__img-wrapper\"><span class=\"image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Lin Zhipeng (AKA No.223) at Saint Laurent, Rive Droite\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/480\/0-769-2008-1336\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1330\/7\/1337980.jpg\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"card-latest__content\">\n<h3 class=\"card-latest__title\">True romance: 12 lovestruck, lusty photo series for Valentine\u2019s Day<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline\" data-newsletter hidden>\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! Get The Drop<\/h1>\n<div class=\"meta-row\">\n<p class=\"meta\">Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"confirmation\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<p class=\"confirmation-title\">Thank you. You have been subscribed<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article-body wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>In 2026, we\u2019ve become accustomed to the idea that we\u2019re living through a time of radical change, and basically powerless to do anything about it. Multibillion-dollar companies move so fast (and break so much) that we can\u2019t make sense of our new world before it whistles by, making way for the next thing. And because the public can\u2019t keep pace with the rate of change \u2013 never mind glacial government regulators \u2013 new products and technologies are rolled out with a reckless disregard for their knock-on effects. So who\u2019s left to rely on, to show us what\u2019s really going on and how it might change our lives in years to come?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In the past, we might have counted on artists to offer us a glimpse behind the curtain. As filmmaker Adam Curtis <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/film-tv\/article\/68120\/1\/adam-curtis-dubious-that-art-can-change-world-shifty-documentary-interview-bbc\"><span>told Dazed<\/span><\/a><span> in 2025, art is at its best when it\u2019s describing how it feels to live in the present day and \u201cshowing you how power works\u201d. But today, does it really <\/span><em><span>feel <\/span><\/em><span>like art is equipped to describe the world we\u2019re living in? Like the rest of us, many artists, performers, and musicians feel <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/article\/59695\/1\/the-treachery-of-images-in-the-age-of-artificial-intelligence-luke-nugent\">left behind<\/a>, cast aside, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/article\/57996\/1\/what-ai-image-scraping-how-can-artists-fight-back-meta-getty-stable-diffusion\">exploited<\/a> by technologies like AI. A single painting or photo series can take months to create, in which time several companies could have lived and died in Silicon Valley. And then, you still have to wade through a sea of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/article\/68257\/1\/how-kitsch-became-aesthetic-right-wing-america-dhs-alligator-alcatraz-meme\"><span>political propaganda<\/span><\/a><span> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/life-culture\/article\/69360\/1\/slop-enshittification-2025-internet-implode-shumon-basar-gunseli-yalcinkaya\"><span>AI-powered slop<\/span><\/a><span> to actually lay eyes on the finished product. Or actually go to a gallery&#8230; which is happening <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theartnewspaper.com\/2026\/02\/13\/london-national-gallery-to-cut-staff-as-it-faces-82-million-pound-deficit\"><span>less<\/span><\/a><span> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.standard.co.uk\/news\/london\/tate-museum-visitor-numbers-pandemic-fall-b1218046.html\"><span>less<\/span><\/a><span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In other words, if artists really are<\/span><em><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/em><span>going to describe our radical times, it might require a radical rethinking of art itself. This isn\u2019t unheard of. In the first half of the 20th century, for example, Dada artists presented found objects as art (see: Marcel Duchamp\u2019s infamous <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tate.org.uk\/art\/artworks\/duchamp-fountain-t07573\"><span>urinal<\/span><\/a><span>) as a disgusted response to the culture that started World War I, and in doing so reshaped art for decades to come. Could we see a similar revolution today, to catch up with our own troubled times?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>This is one of the big questions that motivates <a href=\"https:\/\/restlessegg.com\/discover\">Restless Egg<\/a>, a London-based incubator for \u201cartist-founders\u201d (a term it uses for an \u201cemerging genre\u201d of creative people whose work sits between art, technology, and building commercial products). In practice, this takes the form of a six-month incubation programme for creatives experimenting with technology, plus investments of up to $200,000 in exchange for a stake in products that turn out to be a financial success. \u201cThe incubator responds to a moment that\u2019s happening in the world at large, and at the specific intersection of arts and technology,\u201d explains co-founder William Morgan. This moment is the product of a few different causes, he adds. \u201cThere\u2019s economic precarity, as old funding mechanisms are hollowed out by austerity measures. And also aspects of technological innovation, as AI capabilities proliferate, as well as the existential crises created by them.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dazed-gallery has-23-images \">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<header>\n<div class=\"info\"><span class=\"heading\">Restless Egg: Did DeepMind need <span class=\"nowrap\">Theme Park?<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"gallery\">\n<div class=\"gallery-thumbs\">\n<div class=\"gallery-thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/gallery\/36704\/0\/restless-egg-did-deepmind-need-theme-park\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Restless Egg: Did DeepMind need Theme Park?\" class=\"img\" height=\"2000\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/320\/0-0-3000-2000\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437887.jpg\" width=\"3000\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/gallery\/36704\/1\/restless-egg-did-deepmind-need-theme-park\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Restless Egg: Did DeepMind need Theme Park?\" class=\"img\" height=\"2000\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/320\/0-0-3000-2000\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437897.jpg\" width=\"3000\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/gallery\/36704\/2\/restless-egg-did-deepmind-need-theme-park\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Restless Egg: Did DeepMind need Theme Park?\" class=\"img\" height=\"1340\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/320\/0-495-2010-1340\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437902.jpg\" width=\"2010\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/gallery\/36704\/3\/restless-egg-did-deepmind-need-theme-park\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Restless Egg: Did DeepMind need Theme Park?\" class=\"img\" height=\"384\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/320\/0-119-576-384\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437886.jpg\" width=\"576\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/gallery\/36704\/4\/restless-egg-did-deepmind-need-theme-park\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Restless Egg: Did DeepMind need Theme Park?\" class=\"img\" height=\"1340\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/320\/0-518-2010-1340\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437890.jpg\" width=\"2010\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/gallery\/36704\/5\/restless-egg-did-deepmind-need-theme-park\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Restless Egg: Did DeepMind need Theme Park?\" class=\"img\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/320\/0-91-588-392\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437885.jpg\" width=\"588\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"gallery-footer\">Gallery \/ 23 images<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>In late January 2026, Restless Egg\u2019s first official \u2018batch\u2019 of artist-founders gathered at <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/sybil.gg\/?hl=en\"><span>Sybil<\/span><\/a><span>, a creative centre in Berlin, for an art and tech \u2018salon\u2019 themed around the question, \u201cDid DeepMind need <\/span><em><span>Theme Park<\/span><\/em><span>?\u201d In case that doesn\u2019t mean anything to you, here&#8217;s a quick anecdote: before founding the leading AI lab DeepMind, a teenaged Demis Hassabis worked on the video game <\/span><em><span>Theme Park<\/span><\/em><span>, which enabled players to create their own parks and manage everything from the rollercoasters to the placement of the bins and bathrooms. He has often credited the game\u2019s simple feedback systems \u2013\u00a0put a food vendor too close to a rollercoaster and the virtual visitors would throw up \u2013 as the launchpad for many of his ideas about AI. In other words, his early creative experiments directly shaped the path of the technology as we know it today (and likely, therefore, the course of human history).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Over a frosty weekend in Berlin, vanguard artists including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/article\/68419\/1\/art-technology-british-council-mat-dryhurst-linda-dounia-sougwen-chung-interview\">Mat Dryhurst<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/article\/56953\/1\/ian-cheng-internet-nervous-systems-berghain-interview\">Ian Cheng<\/a>, and Simon Denney spoke about how to get art back in the loop, in an age when it feels like Big Tech has tight control over narratives about what our future could look like. Meanwhile, a competitive salon format gave artist-founders an opportunity to showcase what they\u2019ve been working on during the programme and debate it with the public. Can our iPhones be repurposed to produce a sense of awe and wonder, not just doom and despair? Would it be better if AI companions could get bored and choose to walk away? Is it ethical to watch two robots fight to the \u2018death\u2019?<\/span><span> (Many of these conversations can be accessed via <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.is-this-soup.com\/public\/restless\"><span>Soup<\/span><\/a><span>, an interactive app by the writer and machine learning engineer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/karin.valis\/\">Karin Valis<\/a>.)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"2f626ce5-3ee4-42c7-be37-b3f500a05d8e\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/678\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437882.jpg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"1.48\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Soup by Karin Valis, screenshot\" class=\"img\" height=\"457\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/678\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437882.jpg\" width=\"678\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"credit\">Soup by <span class=\"nowrap\">Karin Valis<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>These questions are rarely asked by the people actually developing frontier technologies, which is why it\u2019s on artists to set the stage for the conversation and push it into the public eye. Take Yaya Labs, for example: the company run by Ben Ditto, <\/span><span>Si\u00e2na-Le\u00e0nn Douglas, and Edwin Eyre has used its time<\/span><span> in the Restless Egg incubator to lay the foundations for a competitive robot dog fighting league. \u201cAs a startup, we\u2019ve spent years trying to explain complicated ideas to people, but you don\u2019t need to explain this at all,\u201d Ditto explains. \u201cIt\u2019s robot dogs, fighting. That\u2019s it.\u201c <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Designed to appeal to our \u201clizard-brain\u201c while its more intellectual implications fly under the radar, the project demonstrates how close we are to realising the dreams (or dystopias) of science fiction from decades gone by. \u201cThe amazing thing about technology in 2026,\u201c Ditto adds, \u201cis that a lot of ideas which would have been [in the] pure sci-fi realm are now very accessible to the average person.\u201c There\u2019s also a healthy dose of \u201cdark humour\u201c in the project. But as Douglas points out: \u201cYou have to be embedded in the culture that you\u2019re critiquing, in order to mirror the techno-dystopic landscape that we live in.\u201c<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>\u201cYou have to be embedded in the culture that you\u2019re critiquing, in order to mirror the techno-dystopic landscape that we live in\u201c \u2013 Si\u00e2na-Leann Douglas<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Of course, a product that explores complex ethical ideas, via a sport with \u201cawful\u201c associations like dog fighting, isn\u2019t necessarily an easy sell to risk-averse moneymen, no matter how entertaining you make it. That\u2019s where Restless Egg comes in. \u201cIn the past, we\u2019ve had a bunch of different ideas and approached various investors, but no one really knew what to make of us,\u201c says Eyre. \u201cWhen we found Restless Egg, it was like they totally understood our vision, and paved the way for a broader network of investors to understand us.\u201c<\/span><\/p>\n<p>For Jack Self and Chau Pham, the brains behind Self Engineering, the Restless Egg incubator also served as a bridge between two distinct worlds. <span>\u201cI<\/span><span>\u2019ve spent the last 10 years working in the tech industry, mostly in engineering roles,\u201c says Pham. \u201cI didn\u2019t know that you could do technology in other ways, to interrogate it with a more creative sensibility, until I stumbled upon Restless Egg through a friend. That\u2019s how I met Jack.\u201c Now, the pair are working together to build software that prioritises the user over the platform. \u201cWe are overwhelmed by the media that we consume, and by our inability to control what we see, and as a result we\u2019re losing a sense of ourselves,\u201c Self says. \u201cWe have a long term product that we think can help people with this, but right now we\u2019re working on a small, free piece of software. If it works, not only will you not use social media ever again, but you won\u2019t miss it.\u201c<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"fb519a71-301c-4eb9-9a47-b3f500aeb5c2\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/576\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437886.jpg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"0.75\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Restless Egg: Did DeepMind need Theme Park?\" class=\"img\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/576\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437886.jpg\" width=\"576\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"caption\">Restless Egg: Did DeepMind need <span class=\"nowrap\">Theme Park?<\/span><\/span><span class=\"credit\">Courtesy of <span class=\"nowrap\">Restless Egg<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Again, this creative application of technology is a hard pitch in a tech industry that\u2019s built on selling ads and stealing our data, but both worlds could benefit from colliding more, Self suggests. \u201cMy initial experience is that the tech sector understands a lot less about culture than I thought, and that I know vastly less about tech than I thought. But we\u2019ve all got those friends who are a really weird couple, and it shouldn\u2019t really work but somehow it does. I think Restless Egg is that meeting space where these two completely different worlds are trying to make a go of it, and that\u2019s very exciting to me\u201c<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Morgan goes a step further, describing experiments with frontier tech as an obligation for artists who want to help decide what the future could look like. \u201cTechnologists are in the greatest position of power they\u2019ve ever been in, and the engineering class is increasingly empowered to govern,\u201d he explains. \u201cSo if artists want a say in what the contours and character of society look like, they don\u2019t have a choice but to participate in the conversation about technology.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>\u201cIf artists want a say in what the contours and character of society look like, they don\u2019t have a choice but to participate in the conversation about technology\u201d \u2013 William Morgan<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>It would be a mistake, after all, to think that artists have <em>zero <\/em>input on the evolution of human technologies. \u201cThere\u2019s definitely a feedback loop,\u201d Ditto suggests. \u201cWhat good creatives bring to it is critical thinking, aesthetics, and culture.\u00a0The bad thing that creatives bring to it is absolute Luddite thinking.\u201d Everyone is familiar with the flood of comments under any AI discourse online, which reject it on principle. \u201cThat\u2019s fine,\u201d he adds, \u201cbut it&#8217;s not going to do anything to the discourse. China and America have trillions of dollars pumping into this thing. We\u2019re modeling whole countries around AI infrastructure. You\u2019re posting a \u2018Fuck AI\u2019 GIF. There\u2019s a call for the art world to educate themselves about technology properly, so that they really understand what\u2019s going on. If you don\u2019t really understand what tech is doing, and where it\u2019s going, you can\u2019t have an interesting discussion about it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Halcyon Mesh is another group of Restless Egg artist-founders \u2013 Dean Grenier, Pearl Wong, and Justin Boreta \u2013 who support the opportunity for <span>artists to work as technologists and build products, as the clearest route to wresting back control over our future. \u201cIt means we might actually have a chance to build the world that we spend our time in,\u201d says Grenier. <\/span>Channelling experience in music, design, and machine-learning, they aim to transform our phones into \u2018generative field recorders\u2019 that create a visual record of the local soundscape.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"71783e0e-9505-4fd6-86ad-b3f500aeb967\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/2000\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437887.jpg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"1.49\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Restless Egg: Did DeepMind need Theme Park?\" class=\"img\" height=\"2013\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/786\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437887.jpg\" width=\"3000\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"caption\">Restless Egg: Did DeepMind need <span class=\"nowrap\">Theme Park?<\/span><\/span><span class=\"credit\">Courtesy of <span class=\"nowrap\">Restless Egg<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>\u201cWe\u2019re really obsessed with invoking awe and wonder,\u201d says Grenier. \u201cIn the marketplace today, technology is all too often being used to distract us, and make us feel terrible about ourselves. We want to make technology that allows people to connect with the moment, and with their bodies. We\u2019re kind of utopians. We\u2019re the hippies in the room.\u201d But, as Wong cuts in, they\u2019re also \u201cbattle hardened and pragmatic\u201d from years in the \u201crave trenches\u201d \u2013 and while \u201cstartup land and artist land are very egocentric places\u201d, Restless Egg has served as a hands-off container to let that idealism and experience flourish.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>According to Restless Egg co-founder Sam Lipnick, the cross-pollination between art and technology also goes some way to solving the dilemma posed earlier: how can art compete with the speed and scale of Big Tech as we move through the 2020s? \u201cThe best way to get an idea in front of as many eyes as possible 100 years ago was the written word, a few years later it was radio, and television a few years after that,\u201d he points out. \u201cNow, it\u2019s the computer in your hand, where millions of people can see it at once.\u201d As a creative person, why would you deny yourself that audience?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>\u201cMaybe some old forms need to be reinvented, maybe some new ones need to be adopted, maybe others need to be abandoned\u201d \u2013 William Morgan<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>The project goes beyond just making art for phone screens and robots, though. Restless Egg also encourages creatives to reimagine how they create, distribute, and monetise their work on a large scale. This echoes a broader shift in the art world today, as artists like Dryhurst and Holly Herndon experiment with new forms of creative ownership in the age of AI, and entrepreneurs like Yancey Strickler push for the creation of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/article\/66354\/1\/boiling-point-how-do-we-create-a-better-art-world-mat-dryhurst-yancey-strickler\">new economic structures<\/a> like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.artistcorporations.com\/\">Artist Corporations<\/a>. The NFT market \u2013 despite its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/article\/69152\/1\/rise-fall-future-digital-art-metakovan-olafur-eliasson-robert-alice-nfts\">infamous crash<\/a> \u2013 serves as yet more evidence of the hunger for a new way of doing things. Controversially, perhaps, Restless Egg borrows more from the strategies of the tech startup, aiming to foster artists and artworks that double as \u201cventure-backable, scalable companies [and] products that people want\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Already, as Morgan points out, the \u201cInstagrammification of the artworld\u201d has seen social media feeds become a professional tool that artists are compelled<\/span><span>to participate in if they want to reach an audience. \u201cThere\u2019s all of these mechanisms that grind artists to a pulp,\u201d he adds. \u201cHow do you navigate that? Maybe some old forms need to be reinvented, maybe some new ones need to be adopted, maybe others need to be abandoned.\u201d Ideally, adds the third Restless Egg co-founder, Sylvan Rackham, new models for art could also place the means of production in artists\u2019 hands; this would allow them to \u201cnudge the direction of technology\u201d rather than adapting their own work for billion-dollar corporations that rarely have their best interests at heart.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"68316691-2768-4d7f-b02d-b3f500aeb48d\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/588\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437885.jpg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"0.75\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Restless Egg: Did DeepMind need Theme Park?\" class=\"img\" height=\"787\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/588\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437885.jpg\" width=\"588\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"caption\">Restless Egg: Did DeepMind need <span class=\"nowrap\">Theme Park?<\/span><\/span><span class=\"credit\">Courtesy of <span class=\"nowrap\">Restless Egg<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>For artists like the oil painters-turned-game designers Fisheye and Riven Chen \u2013 AKA Hidden Fish, who are developing an aquarium for networked AI companions that evolve alongside the user \u2013 this has required making some radical changes. \u201cWhen we create work as independent artists, we never ask for feedback, and we don\u2019t care about how people feel [about] or perceive our works,\u201d Fisheye explains. \u201cBut for a product, it\u2019s 100 per cent the reverse. From the start, we observe deeply and empathise with the target audience. It\u2019s exciting. For me, it\u2019s about bringing our creation to a much larger world, to really impact people\u2019s lifestyles.\u201d Erica Hu and Serene Liu, the artist-founders behind Glia, have a similar desire to touch physical reality via their \u201csentient interface\u201d that helps people remember, relive, and reflect upon moments, people, and places in their lives. \u201cThe question we think about a lot,\u201d says Hu, \u201cis how to engineer and design empathy within a piece of technology.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>\u201cThe next era of tech requires founders who can create products that aren\u2019t just built for stickiness, but for making meaning&#8230; and for having fun on the computer again\u201d \u2013 Sam Lipnick<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>To some, of course, adopting the tactics of Silicon Valley will seem defeatist, and phrases like \u201cventure-backable, scalable companies\u201d will leave a bitter taste in the mouth. On the other hand, Restless Egg see the artist-founder model as the best way to help change the dynamics of the tech industry itself, and define a new kind of \u2018value\u2019 that goes beyond just making another billion dollars. \u201cThe last era of tech was optimised for engagement, and that Silicon Valley model produces real harms,\u201d says Lipnick. \u201cWhat the next era requires is founders who can create culturally relevant products that aren\u2019t just built for stickiness, but for making meaning, for more embodiment and a greater capacity for joy&#8230; for having fun on the computer again.\u201d Even as AI forces businesses to change in many ways, the odds of this change taking place don\u2019t look good for as long as developers and CEOs are left to their own devices.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThere is this lingering specter of engagement, click rates and time-on-device,\u201d Lipnick adds, \u201cand I think if we continue down that path, we\u2019ll continue to see more of the obvious negative effects. I genuinely believe that the next era of technology <em>has <\/em>to be built by artist-founders.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"217f6b96-0cce-4197-82c0-b3f500aedc7f\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/2000\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437894.jpg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"1.49\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Restless Egg: Did DeepMind need Theme Park?\" class=\"img\" height=\"2013\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/786\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437894.jpg\" width=\"3000\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"caption\">Restless Egg: Did DeepMind need <span class=\"nowrap\">Theme Park?<\/span><\/span><span class=\"credit\">Courtesy of <span class=\"nowrap\">Restless Egg<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>\u201cIt really does feel like there\u2019s some something restless, almost like the pendulum is finally swinging back because we\u2019re so fed up with how Big Tech has monopolised and capitalised on our attention and our data,\u201d agrees Hu. \u201cThere\u2019s almost this collective awareness: how can we take the future back into our hands again?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>For the founders of Restless Egg, and many of the artist-founders in its 2026 cohort, Brian Eno\u2019s idea of the \u201cscenius\u201d is a constant reference point for how to channel this collective awareness. In case you\u2019re unfamiliar, Eno coined the word in the 1990s to describe \u201cthe intelligence and intuition of a whole cultural scene\u201d that can produce something greater than the sum of its parts. As a concept, it pushed back against the art world\u2019s myth of the lone genius, but also highlighted the value of collaboration and freely-shared ideas. For Self Engineering\u2019s Chau Pham, this is a major component of the incubator itself. \u201c<\/span><span>Obviously, the funding is important,\u201d she says. \u201cBut it\u2019s also really helpful to be in the room with people with similar sensibilities and experiences, going through the process together and asking the same questions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>\u201cThere\u2019s this collective awareness: how can we take the future back into our hands again?\u201d \u2013 Erica Hu<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Has Restless Egg managed to find a model that can actually sustain this emerging scenius, enable its best work, and make it stick? Even the founders admit that it\u2019s probably too early to say. With one official cohort under its belt \u2013 plus last year\u2019s \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/restlessegg.com\/portfolio\">Batch 0<\/a>\u2019 \u2013 the incubator is planning to support up to 100 new artist-founders over the next few years. \u201cFor us, it\u2019s a series of experiments,\u201d says Rackham, with the goal of figuring out the infrastructure required to create \u201csomething that\u2019s more than a flash in the pan\u201d or reliant on a volatile crypto token. In the meantime, it could at least spark some fresh ideas about how to change art and tech alike \u2013 and hopefully get a grip on the present in the process.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline-last\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! Get The Drop<\/h1>\n<div class=\"meta-row\">\n<p class=\"meta\">Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"confirmation\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<p class=\"confirmation-title\">Thank you. You have been subscribed<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>[analyse_source url=&#8221;https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/article\/69674\/1\/radically-rethink-what-means-to-make-art-restless-egg-technology-berlin-deepmind&#8221;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/798\/227-146-798-532\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/7\/1437908.jpg&#8221;] Jack Wedge, Will Freudenheim (members of Restless Egg Batch 0) February\u00a0 19,\u00a0 2026 Art &amp; Photography \/ Feature Art &amp; Photography \/ Feature This collective is radically rethinking what it means to make art We spoke with Restless Egg, an &#8216;artist-founder&#8217; incubator looking to the tech world for inspiration and aiming to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,76],"class_list":["post-1779999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-dazeddigital-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1779999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1779999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1779999\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1779999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1779999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1779999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}