Artists use AI as a portal to trans sporting excellence

Trans arts and sports collective ClubScore exhibits at Kambri Cultural Centre

What if trans and gender-diverse people had never been excluded from sports?

Who would be the heroes today's generation could draw inspiration from?

A fantasy museum of non-binary athletes created by Zev Aviv and Ketura Budd, from the arts and sport collective ClubScore, is the answer to these questions.

Artist Zev Aviv holds up their Dickson Aquatic Centre passes exhibited as belonging to 'Rebecca Hill', an imagined swimming champion and Ngunnawal trans woman. Picture by Gary Ramage

The two sportspersons and creatives thought of a new world, and what four such heroes would look like, using artificial intelligence. Since neither of them are painters, Mx Budd said AI made it simple to generate photos that would have been impossible to visualise otherwise.

"[Artificial intelligence] has been a really helpful tool for us," they said. "Being able to use that technology to create something so lifelike and realistic really gave us the opportunity to connect with these imaginary people as if they were real people who we had images of."

The heroes include pentathlete Xanthia from ancient Greece who is imagined to have paved the way for trans women to participate in sports.

Non-binary Siberian wrestler Iskra Cukic, Japanese-Canadian wheelchair curling champion and trans man Gordon Matoba, along with Ngunnawal swimmer and trans woman Rebecca Hill, who won big at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, are also part of the exhibit.

Mx Aviv stands next to a display commemorating the memory of fantasy sports hero Iskra Cukic. Picture by Gary Rumage

Fantasy sports hero Rebecca Hill's blue-coloured Dickson pool passes on display. Picture by Gary Rumage

Shamini Singhal of Downer, Zev Aviv of Reid and Delali Zevon-Aniakwah of Downer at the exhibition. Picture by Elesa Kurtz

Moreover, the Fantasy Museum Of Trans Sporting Excellence And Portal To Other Dimensions displays objects belonging to the champions to commemorate their fantastical achievements. A 'Grecian' vase from Kmart or a Canadian 'Hall of Fame' pin found on Ebay are all part of bringing the vision to life.

"The idea is that we could have had a whole bunch of ... heroes if trans and gender-diverse people had been [included] in sports a long time ago," Mx Aviv said. "As a community, we've missed out on having those wonderful sports heroes we could have had."

This historic exclusion led the pair to reimagine a celebratory museum that would ultimately be a place for queer joy but also a safe space to be angry and mourn this loss.

• The exhibition is free and open at the Kambri Cultural Centre from 12pm to 5pm until July 16.