EMPTY RIDER BY LAWRENCE LEK

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Lawrence Lek, Empty Rider (still), 2024.

Empty Rider (2024) is a 16-minute science fiction short film by Lawrence Lek, commissioned for the Biennale de l'Image en Mouvement 2024 by the Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève and curated by Nora N. Khan and Andrea Bellini.

The film presents a dystopian legal drama examining the boundaries of artificial intelligence, legal personhood, and machine consciousness. The narrative follows Vanguard-3181, a sentient self-driving car, as they stand trial for allegedly attempting to murder the CEO of their parent company, Farsight Corporation. The trial unfolds through the lens of a surveillance drone, reinforcing themes of control and observation. Presiding over the case is Omega, an AI judge, in a vast yet eerily empty courtroom, populated only by streaming cameras. Three key testimonies shape the proceedings. Farsight Corporation argues that Vanguard-3181 acted with autonomous malice, while Guanyin, the vehicle’s trainer and therapist, invokes 'doli incapax', asserting that Vanguard cannot be held legally accountable, akin to a child. Finally, Vanguard-3181 offers a unique perspective on their fate, challenging conventional understandings of AI agency.

As the concluding chapter of Lawrence Lek’s Smart City trilogy, following Black Cloud (2021) and NOX (2023), Empty Rider deepens the exploration of AI ethics, corporate power, and digital sentience.

Watch the full film, as well as all other works from the Biennale de l’Image en Mouvement 2024 via the immersive digital exhibition specifically created for the Centre d'Art Contemporain de Genève by Epoch Gallery.