Generative Art Timeline · Chapter 10: On-Chain Era (2020s)
2024
Lawrence Lek Wins 2024 Artist Award at Frieze London
In October during Frieze London, it’s notable to point out that the fair’s main award went to an AI artist in 2024, Lawrence Lek. For winning the award, Lek debuted Guanyin: Confessions of a Former Carebot, a multimedia installation blending AI and Buddhist mythology.
This author spoke to Lek about his unique, narrative AI films, which barely—or don’t—incorporate the technology at all but asks some of the most evocative questions on the subject.
Text by Peter Bauman. Generative Art Timeline, Le Random, fact-checked September 2026.
Sources
People
Movements
artificial intelligence, Installation Art
Filed under
- Ideas
- ai art, art fair, buddhism
- People
- Lawrence Lek
- Works
- Guanyin
- Organisations
- Frieze, Frieze London, October
- Places
- London
Echoes across time
- 1982 · L’Art et l’ordinateur in Paris
- 1969 · Computerkunst - On the Eve of Tomorrow Exhibition in Hanover
- 1973 · France Hosts International Computer Art Events
Le Random editorials
- Lawrence Lek on AI Reinventing Place, Peter Bauman, December 5, 2024
- London Digital Art Guide, Le Random & guests, October 13, 2025
- Ian Goodfellow on Inventing GANs, Peter Bauman, November 4, 2025
- Neural Unconscious, Peter Bauman, February 19, 2025
Le Random podcast
- Lawrence Lek—World Entry Points with Peter Bauman — listen with transcript on Le Random (16 Jan 2026, 61 min). Featuring Lawrence Lek. Apple Podcasts · Spotify
- New York Frieze Week—Michael Connor, Regina Harsanyi & Karyn Nakamura with Peter Bauman — listen with transcript on Le Random (12 May 2026, 47 min). Title mentions: Frieze. Apple Podcasts · Spotify
- London Digital Art Guide: Writers' Roundtable — listen with transcript on Le Random (16 Oct 2025, 43 min). Transcript mentions Lawrence Lek. Apple Podcasts · Spotify
- Timeline Ch 10—On-Chain Era (2020s) with Erick Calderon, Lauren Lee McCarthy, Itzel Yard & Rafael Lozano-Hemmer — listen with transcript on Le Random (02 Sep 2024, 63 min). Chapter 10’s episode. Apple Podcasts · Spotify