Jordan A. Porter-Woodruff: The Children Play Games
December 14, 2025 – February 14, 2026
Epiphany Center for the Arts, 201 S Ashland Ave, Chicago, IL 60607, USA
In The Children Play Games , the artist explores the fragile relationship between play, perception, and imagination through a lens that intertwines past memories, present realities, and future possibilities. The show invites viewers to reflect on how children engage with their world in an age where Artificial Intelligence and deep Internet culture increasingly shape their experiences and understanding. By juxtaposing traditional play with AI-infused elements the artist creates a dialogue about the shifting boundaries of authenticity and creativity in childhood. Today’s children grow up alongside intelligent machines while immersed in an endless, unfiltered digital stream. Their minds are trained to scroll and react, often at the expense of slower, tactile forms of play that once nurtured fine motor skills, independent thought, and imaginative problem-solving. Algorithmic feeds promise limitless information but leave little room for open-ended discovery, offering access without the depth of true exploration. Artificial Intelligence sharpens this dilemma by performing acts of invention that once belonged to the developing mind.