Lawrence Lek NOX Pavilion

Artificial intelligence takes on human complexity in Lawrence Lek: NOX Pavilion, an immersive exhibition at The Bass that blurs the line between machine and sentient being.

Through computer-generated film, sculpture, sound and interactive media, London-based artist Lawrence Lek envisions a near future shaped by corporate control and digital consciousness. The installation centers on NOX, short for Nonhuman Excellence, a fictional therapy center for self-aware, self-driving cars. Within its world, machines undergo treatment to restore their productivity rather than their well-being, exposing tensions between care and control, labor and autonomy.

At The Bass, the exhibition unfolds across two connected galleries, where visitors encounter new and existing works that expand Lek’s universe. Highlights include a two-channel film following Enigma-76, an AI vehicle guided through therapy by Guanyin, a compassionate “carebot”; a digital animation giving voice to a crash test dummy caught in cycles of destruction and repair; and an interactive game that places viewers inside a corporate therapy system driven by performance metrics.

Anchoring the space is the stone-tiled pavilion that lends the exhibition its title, a hybrid of shelter, monument and ruin that exists both physically and within Lek’s virtual cityscape. Together, these works invite reflection on how technology mirrors human struggles with purpose, identity and the demands of modern life.

Lawrence Lek: NOX Pavilion is on view November 19 through April 26 at The Bass.