If awarded the Dover Prize, I would use the funds to further develop my project, “Machine-See”, which explores how AI technologies are reshaping the way we see, believe, and remember. While I have already begun to investigate how synthetic images alter perception, the prize would allow me to go further—both conceptually and technically—than I’ve previously been able to.
A significant portion of the funding would go toward materials and fabrication costs for new sculptures. I plan to create a series of large-scale and mid-sized sculptures that physically manifest AI’s distorted vision. These works will combine industrial materials—such as metal, resin, and found objects—with traditional sculptural processes.
I would also allocate funds for access to AI tools and software licenses, including platforms like DALL·E and Stable Diffusion. These tools are crucial for generating source imagery and experimental outputs, which serve as starting points for my sculptures and print works. Subscription and computational costs can be high, and this prize would enable me to explore these technologies more fully and without limitation.
Additionally, I plan to invest in specialist printmaking supplies (screen-printing inks, etching plates, archival paper) to layer AI-generated images with historic and journalistic archives. These prints will accompany the sculptures and create a rich dialogue between machine and human image-making.
To expand my skills and better integrate automation and AI technologies into my practice, I will allocate funds for professional development and courses on automation. These will enable me to push the conceptual and technical boundaries of the project.
The prize would also support collaborations with AI researchers and local archives, including potential workshops or residencies, enabling me to deepen my understanding of algorithmic bias, data ethics, and regional histories. This research will inform and enrich the conceptual development of the work.
Finally, a portion of the funds would be reserved for exhibition costs and public engagement, including gallery hire, installation support, and outreach events—to ensure this project reaches a broad audience and sparks critical conversations about the future of image culture in an AI world.
Being rooted in Darlington, I see this project as a chance to bring a fresh and urgent conversation to the region, one that explores AI, visual culture, and the shifting nature of truth in the digital age. As AI-generated media becomes more present in everyday life, I believe it’s important to create space for local audiences to engage with these changes critically and creatively.
Through sculpture, print, and installation, the project will introduce accessible entry points into these global technological shifts, while staying grounded in Darlington’s own cultural and industrial heritage. I plan to organise events that invite local communities into both the making and the thinking behind the work.
Collaboration with local archives will be key to drawing connections between historic image-making, journalism, and the new realities shaped by machine vision. I also intend to work with regional educators and practitioners to share skills and provoke cross-disciplinary dialogue.
By combining emerging technologies with hands-on, material processes, this project aims to position Darlington as an active site for contemporary artistic research—highlighting how forward-thinking, critical art can emerge from and contribute to towns, not just major cities.
I am a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores the tension between human perception and mediated reality, especially as shaped by mass media and emerging AI technologies. Working across printmaking, sculpture, and digital media, I investigate how visual systems and language construct meaning, truth, and memory in today’s image-saturated world.
Rather than using AI-generated images directly, I mimic the processes behind AI, how machines interpret, generate, and manipulate visual information. I translate these concepts into physical forms through etching, screen-printing, and sculpture, creating works that highlight the contrast between human warmth and cold machine logic.
My practice is both analytical and intuitive. I engage with visual systems such as news graphics, archival formats, and algorithmic processes to reveal the gaps, contradictions, and ideologies embedded within them. By reinterpreting these systems through traditional print and sculptural techniques, I reclaim a sense of tactility and ambiguity often lost in digital media.
Recent exhibitions include solo shows such as Too Much Information… Or Not Enough at Orleans House Gallery (2022) and Between Here and There at Back Lot Gallery, Texas. I have also taken part in group and solo presentations at the French Consulate in London (2024, 2025), Loop 24 at Bankside Gallery (2024), Woolwich International Print Fair (2021 and 2023) and Algorithmic Aesthetics at both 54 The Gallery and Collective Gallery (2024). My work has been shown widely across the UK and internationally, including Cheap Festival in Bologna, Italy, and several exhibitions in Houston, Texas, to name a few. A full CV and detailed exhibition history are available upon request.
I hold a Master’s in Art History (distinction) from the University of Bordeaux (Fr.) and an MA in Fine Art (distinction) from City & Guilds of London Art School (UK).
Unfortunately, my MA took place during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, a period when many institutions—including my own—suspended degree show prizes and awards. Despite this, I remained fully engaged with my practice and continued to develop work under challenging circumstances, maintaining strong academic and creative outcomes throughout the course.
Currently based in Surrey, I am part of the management team at Ochre Print Studio, where I oversee the etching room and regularly lead printmaking workshops. This environment supports my continued technical development and engagement with a broader creative community.
My work has been featured in the Artists Responding To magazine, specifically in Issues #7 (Summer 2023) and #11 (summer 2024).
An earlier exhibition “Between Here and There” (Back Lot Gallery, Brenham, TX 2018), was featured in the Brenham Banner-Press.
In recognition of my practice, I was awarded a residency with Winsor & Newton in London, where I further developed my engagement with material experimentation. I was also selected for a month-long printmaking residency at Atelier Circulaire in Montréal, where I deepened my engagement with international print culture and explored transatlantic media narratives.
In 2021-2022, I completed a two-year artist residency at Ochre Print Studio in Surrey, where I now serve as part of the management team, overseeing the etching room and running public workshops.
Email: amjsivov@gmail.com
Address: 26 CHapel Square, Virginia Water, Surrey, GU254SZ, GB
Local Authority: Runnymede Borough Council
