Artificial Life was more than a gala, it was a curated ecosystem. Drawing from a foundational concept in digital art, the event unfolded as an emergent world built from loops, patterns, code, and culture. Held at the New Museum, the evening began with a cocktail hour exhibition of work by honorees Itzel Yard (ix shells), Lilian Schwartz, and Rafaël Rozendaal, whose contributions span the past, present, and future of generative art and AI. A curated dinner for 150 VIP guests in the Sky Room offered a sensory journey through computational aesthetics, followed by an afterparty in the museum’s lobby with live DJ sets by Juicy and Bapari, welcoming over 450 guests from Rhizome’s vibrant creative community. From menus and lighting to seating charts and gift bags, every element was treated as a node in a generative system—mirroring the evening’s central theme: computation as an organic, evolving force in culture.

Rhizome invited West of Here to conceive and produce its annual benefit gala and was tasked with transforming the event into a living reflection of the organization’s legacy at the intersection of art and technology. The evening needed to honor pioneering and contemporary digital artists while engaging a cross-generational community of technologists, curators, collectors, and creators.