"Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." — Albert Einstein.

In the last few years people talked a lot about how technology can increase and expand human creativity. This has prompted many artists and researchers to develop new tools to allow even those who do not know how to program to use machine learning in their artistic works.

Playform is both a tool for curious experimenters and a studio for non-tech-savvy artists who want to work using deep learning techniques. Born from an idea of Dr. Ahmed Elgammal, Professor at the Department of Computer Science at Rutgers University and founder and director of the Art and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at Rutgers, Playform is specifically designed for the needs of creatives. 

[Fig.2] Demo, Video on Vimeo. Credits: Playform

As Dr. Elgammal said in a previous interview with the Digital Journal: “At the design side, we focused on making the user experience intuitive and free of AI jargon.” This means that the platform is trained on artworks from “different epochs, designs, architectural structures and many other creative outputs” and uses optimized generative AI methods that can be trained with much less data, e.g., only tens of images versus thousands of images. It offers also a simple language to avoid confusion on the users’ side.

The Studio invests in selected creatives, offers an exclusive program that includes exhibition opportunities, unlimited training credits and focuses on the artists’ development.

Recently, a Marketplace and Exhibition Space have been added to engage with the audience.

Hopefully this was interesting, as conversations about Art and AI are going on. All the posts are available here on the website at any time, where they are up-to-date. Have a good day.

As the world is struggling with Covid-19, many events will still be held online. I thought of presenting briefly a project that sees the use of Artificial Intelligence combined with dance and choreography.

Studio Wayne McGregor teamed up with Superblue, BMW i, and Random International and created an ongoing performance titled No One is An Island. The digital performance, which is also an installation, will be shown only on the partners’ digital channels through January 2021, while a live one will be organized sometime later in the year. 

[Fig.2] No One is An Island, Credit: Studio Wayne McGregor.

No One is An Island is introduced by McGregor, who is a multi award-winning British choreographer and director, as “a future-oriented reflection on how the human mind empathises with artificial intelligence and automated processes”, bringing together different elements such as performance, sculpture and music. It attempts to explore “the relationship between humans and technology and our capacity to empathise with a machine.”

The project, discussed more in detail in an interview with designboom, puts at the centre a sculpture that moves from robot to human status. The installation is enhanced by a live performance with dancers from Studio Wayne McGregor, exploring the interaction and relationship between humans and technology.

The full interview is available here: https://www.designboom.com/art/wayne-mcgregor-random-international-and-bmw-i-no-one-is-an-island-11-25-2020/

To follow the Studio: https://waynemcgregor.com/

Hopefully this was interesting, as conversations about Art and AI are going on. All the posts are available here on the website at any time, where they are up-to-date. Have a good week.

Last year (26 Feb - 20 Apr 2020), the Centre Pompidou organized Neurons, simulated intelligence, an exhibition dedicated to the theme of Artificial Intelligence in the context of neuroscience. 

The show is part of the series Mutations/Creations, a framework that positions the Centre Pompidou as a leading institution for innovation and cross-collaboration among different domains, including science, engineering and art. In each edition of   Mutations/Creations, artists are invited to reflect on technological, scientific or industrial issues. Neurons confronts the theme of AI and computational cognition. 

Several works have been exhibited, including the ones of AI Art pioneers Refik Anadol, Mario Klingemann, and Anna Ridler. 

Frédéric Migayrou, Professor of Architecture at The Bartlett School of Architecture and Deputy Director of the MNAM-CCI (Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre de Création Industrielle) at the Centre Pompidou Paris, has been the curator of the show and commented: 

“Neurons, simulated intelligence sets the latest creations – both technological innovations and industrial applications – in context, in a type of archaeology of artificial intelligence, over a fifty-year period. Through artistic works, the exhibition offers a critical take on technologies for simulating intelligence. It’s all about demystifying the idea itself of artificial intelligence, which is all around us today, and causing it to come up against human intelligence through mechanical, machine and computer simulation. In order not to think of artificial intelligence as a fantasy concept, we need to understand it instead as something that is rooted in logic and mathematics. It is a long-running and ongoing story, which has reached the point today of built-in intelligence, in the form of aids to driving, for example.”

[Fig.2] Neurons, simulated intelligence. Credit: Centre Pompidou.

Neurons has been arranged around five areas of research and outlines “a genealogy of intelligence simulation.” The artists’ participation enriches the dialogue with their critical and innovative points of view, positioning them as an essential part of a project that aims to open a critical discussion on new technologies. This discussion would benefit from public involvement too.

The interview with art critique and curator Frédéric Migayrou can be read here: https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/program/calendar/event/cbEr6Ko.

Further reading here: https://www.seditionart.com/magazine/neurones-simulated-intelligence-at-the-centre-pompidou

Hopefully this was interesting, as conversations about Art and AI are going on. All the posts are available here on the website at any time, where they are up-to-date. Have a good week.

Artist, public speaker and (re)searcher Sougwen Chung is a pioneer in the field of human-machine collaboration. Her work, which spans from installations to performance to drawing, investigates the dynamics and tensions between humans and systems. 

Chung is a former research fellow at MIT’s Media Lab and winner of the Woman of the Year Monte Carlo Award (2019) for her achievements in art and science; her works are exhibited worldwide.

In a TED Talk from 2019, the artist explained the reasons that led her to build a robot named D.O.U.G. (the robot is named after her experiment Drawing Operations Unit: Generation 1), and started drawing with robots. Reflecting on the fact that machines are used more and more to complete human tasks, she wondered about the implications of automation in activities that involve a creative process and what this means for humans as creative beings. The artist underlined how her exploration of AI and robotics revolves around both the idea of developing new processes for human creativity and rethinking the boundaries of human and artificial. She is interested in “finding the beauty of human and nonhuman creativity”, and “embracing the imperfections and recognizing the fallibility of both human and machine, in order to expand the potential of both.”

In a more recent interview with the Washington Post, the artist said that:

“Picasso used the tools of his day. I’m interested in using the technologies that define our current moment, as a way of understanding how they work in our lives. The modern human is surrounded by smart technology and phones and machines, and I want to use them as a source of inspiration, looking to what future art practices could be.”

Chung has studios in New York, London, and Basel. To follow her work, please visit :

https://sougwen.com

Best wishes for a wonderful 2021.

Hopefully this was interesting, as conversations about Art and AI are going on. All the posts are available here on the website at any time, where they are up-to-date. Have a good week.

We are in the Holiday Season and I thought to share two readings. These interviews offer a glimpse of the work and inspiration of two artists who have incorporated machine learning into their practice and come from different backgrounds.

1.  Scott Eaton is a London-based artist exploring the figurative representation of the human body through technology and traditional craftsmanship. Eaton is also an educator and creative technologist: 

https://www.thelondonmagazine.org/interview-scott-eaton-artistai/

2. Christian Mio Loclair is a new media artist and choreographer based in Berlin. Through installations, Loclair explores aesthetics, nature and the intersection of movement and Artificial Intelligence:

https://www.goethe.de/prj/k40/en/kun/loc.html

The artists discuss the use of algorithms and deep learning in their work, and offer their point of view on Creative AI.

Happy reading!

Hopefully this was interesting, as conversations about Art and AI are going on. All the posts are available here on the website at any time, where they are up-to-date. Have a good week.

This year, the AI Art Gallery has reached its fourth edition. The gallery is a collection of artwork using machine learning, ranging from visual art to music to poetry and design, submitted to the workshop of the NeurIPS Conference. 

The Conference and Workshop on Neural Information Processing Systems (abbreviated as NeurIPS) takes place every December and is a machine learning and computational neuroscience international conference that includes invited talks, posters and oral presentations. Its first edition, held in Denver, Colorado, dates back to 1987.

NeurIPS attracts researchers from a number of fields, such as computer vision, cognitive science, statistical linguistics, and information theory, just to name a few. 

In 2017 the conference workshop was enriched with the online gallery, a visual space that allows the public to come into contact with the works of artists and researchers who use machine learning in their work. The 2020 edition has been held online, due to the Covid-19 emergency, and has taken place from December 6th to December 12th. 

To visit the online exhibition, which is now a highly anticipated event, and discover artists, artworks, ideas and inspiration, please visit: http://www.aiartonline.com .

Hopefully this was interesting, as conversations about Art and AI are going on. All the posts are available here on the website at any time, where they are up-to-date. Have a good week.

CADAF is a platform that organizes many different events throughout the year, including talks, exhibits and international art fairs.

Born from an idea of New Art Group LLC and New Art Academy (a company founded in 2017 that aims to provide professionals with easy access to education in art and new technologies), it is designed for showcasing new media and digital art (ranging from Virtual Reality to Augmented Reality to Blockchain to Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence to Immersive Experience, just to name a few), allowing the visitors to discover a great variety of artworks and artistic expressions. It also offers an environment where artists, galleries, curators, and collectors can engage in a fruitful dialogue within the digital art market. 

In 2019, CADAF organized two physical editions: the first took place in New York City, in May, and the second in Miami, in December. Both fairs were well received and attended by technology and art communities, featuring works by selected artists and galleries.

[Fig. 1] CADAF NYC, 2019 at Lightbox NYC | May 3-5. Credit CADAF.

In 2020, restrictions imposed by COVID-19 pushed CADAF to develop an online program - which has taken the form of ‘an engagement and sales platform’ - to provide a concrete answer to the difficult time many artists are facing. CADAF ONLINE is therefore the third edition of the Contemporary and Digital Art Fair.

CADAF is also at the forefront of #digitalartmonth, an event that showcases digital art and takes place both online and in different locations of a given city. The physical location for the current show is Miami, Florida (December 7 - January 7), where several partner locations can be visited to discover the Virtual Reality (VR) works placed around the city. 

Hopefully this was interesting, as conversations about Art and AI are going on. All the posts are available here on the website at any time, where they are up-to-date. Have a good week.

The pandemic has created disastrous situations from many points of view, from a global health emergency to economic and political crisis. The cultural sector has not been spared: indeed, many galleries and museums have failed to maintain the programs set for the current year.

At the Pace Gallery, in London, “Bloom”, the exhibition of Trevor Paglen has just ended. The American artist has spoken of his work as “an exhibition of many things, but mostly mourning”.

“Bloom” has been conceived starting from high-resolution photographs of plants and flowers in bloom taken by the artist, and then fed into a customized AI-suite where they were broken down into their main components. The result is a series of unnatural, unsettling, and allegorical images that deviate from nature.

Borrowing from art history, Paglen used flowers as a symbol of the fragility of life. When he introduced his work, he explained that he found himself gravitating towards these images in a moment where loss has become a constant presence in our life.

[Fig. 2] Trevor Paglen: “Bloom”. Credit: Pace Gallery

The sense of fragility has then been taken up by the artist and connected to a broader discussion on the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence. Paglen has also discussed the core themes of “Bloom” in an online panel with Andria Hickey, Pace’s Senior Director and Curator, Julia Bryan-Wilson, Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art at the University of California, Berkeley, and Jimena Canales, scholar in the History of Science and author.

[Fig. 3] “AI and Allegory in the COVID Era” - a panel with Andria Hickey, Trevor Paglen, Julia Bryan-Wilson, and Jimena Canales. Credit Pace Gallery.

In a time where social distance is paramount, Paglen has focused on the idea of designing an exhibition that reflects also on the concepts of abstraction, presence, remoteness and online engagement.

On top of the images generated with machine learning, the artist has then created Octopus, an apparatus that allowed visitors to visit the exhibition remotely and be part of it by streaming their personal webcams on the monitors displayed inside of the exhibition.

While Octopus is not available anymore, you can still explore the exhibition: https://www.pacegallery.com/exhibitions/trevor-paglen-bloom/

Hopefully this was interesting, as conversations about Art and AI are going on. All the posts are available here on the website at any time, where they are up-to-date. Have a good week.

At the heart of its inspiration, which is expressed mainly through live performances and installations, is the desire not only to challenge the pre-established order of things, but also to establish a new relationship between light, sound, movement and space.

Through their sophisticated work that intertwines science, art and technology, the studio is part of the international scene of artists who are committed to the creation of culture and knowledge. They also maintain close contact with the territory and its community. In this spirit, indeed, since 2016 fuse* has co-produced NODE, an international festival dedicated to the meeting of the visual arts with electronic music, cinema and new technologies.

fuse*’s last project, Treu, has been premiered at Pochen Biennale in Chemnitz, Germany on October 22nd. This work, which is a real time audiovisual installation, questions the concept of trust and is on display at Wirkbau Chemnitz until November 1st.

[Fig.1] Treu, 2020. Credits: fuse* Studio.

“Reality oscillates between realism and abstraction depending on indexes that measure market confidence collected in real-time. On one hand, the past and the present are visualised through photogrammetry, a technology which allows to obtain reliable information about physical objects through the process of recording, measuring and interpreting photographic images. On the other, an artificial intelligence predicts possible futures elaborating the data from the past; the same data that had the power to shift public opinion - trust - and to trigger processes of social change or to repress them.” - fuse*studio.

Multiverse, a real time A/V installation based on generative graphics and sounds, leverages the hypothesis of the multiverse, a theory of physical cosmology according to which there is a group of multiple universes that encompasses everything that exists (i.g., time, space, matter, information, energy, and the constants and physical laws that regulate them).

[Fig.2] Multiverse, 2018. Video, Credits: fuse* Studio.

“The installation lays its foundations precisely on this concept and, through the creation of a succession of digital paintings generated in real time, attempts to represent the eternal birth and death of infinite parallel universes.” - fuse*studio.

[Fig. 3] Multiverse, 2018. Still image of the process used in the creation of the artwork. Credits: fuse* Studio.

As fuse* explained: “Multiverse aims to create a relationship of great intimacy with the viewer while wanting to keep the hierarchies between the two main characters. On one side the ephemeral and vulnerable human figure and on the other side something extremely vast and incomprehensible, almost impenetrable, such as the universe.”

In November 2020, Multiverse took part in AS-Helix: Art and Science Integration in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, an exhibition at the intersection of art and science held in Beijing at the National Museum of China. The work won the Wu Guanzhong Art and Science Innovation Award assigned by Tsinghua University and has been exhibited among those of over 200 artists including Refik Anadol Studio, teamLab, Tobias Gremmler, etc.

Recently, a prototype dome version of Multiverse, created for the program FUTURE VISION LAB of Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab, will premiere in Taipei on November 1st.

[Fig. 4] Multiverse.dome, 2020 at Future Vision Lab. Credits: fuse* Studio.

“The experimental projects presented at FUTURE VISION LAB involve super high-resolution images and open exhibition platform to create a fully immersive experiential space, generated through artificial intelligence (AI) and images, with generative art and a high-speed computing platform to initiate a vision for visual experimentation and innovation. The exhibitions and performances that are taking place over a three-month period are the result of collaborations among up-and-coming new media artists.” - Future Vision Lab.

From November 2020 to January 2021, FUTURE VISION LAB will provide a wide range of visual experiences: https://clab.org.tw/en/project/future-vision-lab.

To follow the studio: https://www.fuseworks.it/en/works/

Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License. The CC license does not apply to videos, images or any other material by fuse* studio.

I discovered her work when I briefly introduce the 3D interactive online exhibition Returning the Gaze, and I was very impressed by the underlying vision of it.

Farahi uses garments and architectural elements as extensions of our skin and brain to create new ways of interaction between the human body and the world around us.

[Fig.1] Caresse of the Gaze, 2015. Credits: Behnaz Farahi.

Caresse of the Gaze (2015) is a 3D printed wearable, made in collaboration with Autodesk Pier 9 and Madworkshop, which responds to other people’s gaze. It uses human-like behavioral responses and the flexible behavior of the skin itself to interface with the world, addressing issues such as intimacy, gender and personal identities. Our gaze communicates feelings and emotions, and the way we respond to it can change our surroundings.

[Fig.2] A camera, based on image sensing technology, communicates with a micro controller able to actuate and control various nodes in the garment. Credits: Behnaz Farahi.

“It does so in the belief that by implementing design and motion principles inspired by natural systems, we might be able to rethink the relationship between our bodies and the surrounding environment. Even though this approach is still speculative, it opens up the possibility of a radical new approach to interactive clothing (using computer vision technologies).” - Behnaz Farahi.

Synapse (2015) is a 3D wearable helmet that maps the brain’s attention levels. It wraps around the face when we don’t pay too much attention to our surroundings and opens up when we do. The helmet is a shape-changing structure around the body and functions as a second skin. Controlled by the electroencephalography (EEG) of the brain, it controls the environment around us through our thoughts.

[Fig.3] Synapse, 2015. Credits: Behnaz Farahi. The helmet opens or cocoons depending on the brain activity.

“The environment therefore becomes an extension of our bodies. This project aims to play with the intimacy of our bodies and the environment to the point that the distinction between them becomes blurred, as both have ‘become’ a single entity.” - Behnaz Farahi.

Interactive design, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and critical thinking materialize and merge into Can the Subaltern Speak? (2020). The project investigates new ways of communication for marginalized groups that look for strategies against their oppressors.

Developing their own language, two masks start a secret conversation using AI generated Morse code, rapidly blinking their eyelashes and transforming the wink in a means to protect against sexual predators.

[Fig.4] Can the Subaltern Speak? (2020). Credits: Behnaz Farahi.

In this very inspiring work there are several influences. First of all, we find the inspiration that comes from the traditional masks worn by the Bandari women of southern Iran. Introduced in the past as a way to protect them from slave masters, masks are used here to promote “a feminist, advanced tech resistance to patriarchy.” Then, the experience of many women who used the code to report domestic abuse during the COVID-19 confinement. Facebook’s experiment on Artificial Intelligence agents that developed their own way of communicating, and the Morse code used by an American soldier in Vietnam to report torture.

AI becomes a means of creating an instrument of protection against powers that undermine the freedom of minority groups, and a way to free the voice of the latter.

The project, which is part of the Returning the Gaze exhibition, has been defined by Farahi as “dear and personal” and has taken part in Ars Electronica Garden Long Beach.

Resources:

http://behnazfarahi.com/

https://www.instagram.com/behnazfarahi/

https://ars.electronica.art/keplersgardens/de/returning-the-gaze-exhibition/

Note: You can also read this article on my Medium blog on AI and the Arts.

Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License. The CC license does not apply to videos, images or any other material by Behnaz Farahi.

“We have killed God, as Nietzsche says. But we are rebuilding Him, with Technology, to match our techno-culture.” — Memo Akten.

Memo Akten is a researcher and artist from Turkey who investigates the essence of humans and nature through emerging technologies and computation. In his work, Akten brings together different fields, such as biological and artificial intelligence, perception, information theory, cosmology, spirituality, creativity and so on, using deep learning as both a medium and a subject matter.

He periodically addresses issues related to the sphere of spirituality and religion, drawing important connections with the society we live in. For example, in Keeper of our collective consciousness (2014) and All watched over by Machines of Loving Grace (2015), Akten investigates our relationship with the digital world by presenting an interesting point of view on the role of technology in our lives.

The first work is a collaboration with the search engine Google that led to the creation of a collection of prayers. Held in the cloud, these words are, more than anything else, intimate confessions. The artist makes us reflect how, over time, the cloud has in fact become a friend, a confessor, and a confidant, taking on a role that in the past belonged to the people around us and creating a collective consciousness.

[Fig.1] Keeper of our Collective Consciousness (2014) at Mind the Deep, Ming Contemporary Art Museum, Shanghai. Photos courtesy of Ming contemporary art Museum. Credits: Memo Akten.

The second work is a reflection on the concept of God and the role of religion through the lens of philosophy, neuroscience and cognitive science, with direct references to the theories of David Hume, Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, Dean Hamer, and Daniel Dennett.

As Akten writes:

“For millennia, religions have evolved, responding to their host culture’s traits and needs. Millions of deities have come and gone. Some have disappeared completely, some are localized to small groups, and others have grown to dominate countries and continents. As societies grow and change, so do their deities and religions along with them. Those beliefs and values which are most culturally fit survive.

And we are now living in times of increasing technological surveillance. In this post-Snowden era, we are more aware of the extent of this invasion of privacy than ever before. But did the Snowden Revelations have the impact we might have hoped for? Did they provoke a public outcry from the masses? A unanimous demand for privacy? Not quite. The people are apathetic — perhaps even sympathetic, finding safety and comfort in knowing that a Higher Force is watching; protecting those who are virtuous and law-abiding. Those who are innocent have nothing to fear. Those who do wrong will be found and punished.”

[Fig.2] All watched over by Machines of Loving Grace (2015). Credits: Memo Akten.

Akten does not speak of God in terms of a supernatural being, but analyzes the divine in its quality of glue within the society without forgetting, however, the negative aspects that may emerge.

In an age that is increasingly materialistic and a victim of its own technological dependence, we are losing the old gods and replacing them with new ones.

“We’re edging closer and closer to an authentic man-made deity — living up in The Cloud, of all places. Watching over us, listening to our thoughts and dreams in ones and zeros.”

[Fig.3] All watched over by Machines of Loving Grace (2015), Deepdream Version. Credits: Memo Akten.

The Deepdream version of All watched over by Machines of Loving Grace has been made for the DeepDream: The art of neural networks exhibition in partnership with Google Research. The artwork, which brings to light some of the problematic aspects related to the use of algorithms - such as automation and mass surveillance - is a machine hallucination based on a satellite view of the GCHQ as seen from The Cloud. The GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters) is an intelligence and security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence and information assurance to the government and armed forces of the United Kingdom.

Combining critical and conceptual approaches, Akten belongs to the group of artists who critically investigate the relationship between art and technology, contributing to the ongoing dialogue between human and artificial.

For more information, please visit: http://www.memo.tv.

Except where otherwise noted this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

EdgeCut is a monthly performance series that convenes at NEW INC, the art, tech and design incubator at The New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York. Short works of live performance explore our complex relationship to the digital—looking at the many ways interactivity, games, robotics, wearables, AI and other digital technologies inform new practices in live performance. The series is curated by Kat Mustatea and Heidi Boisvert.

EdgeCut has partnered with New York Live Arts to present its first of three showcases exploring our complex relationship to the digital and how “liveness” is defined during this current moment.

Its first virtual iteration of the series is titled and centered around the theme of CAPTIVITY and will feature an international group of artists selected from an open call including Carrie Sijia Wang, Emily Twines, Theatre In Quarantine, Kate Ladenheim + The RAD Lab, Rourou Ye, Sadi Oortmood, Sylvain Souklaye, and XUE.

[Fig.1] Flyer of the event by EdgeCut. Credits EdgeCut.

You’ll have the chance to hang out in a virtual 3D space, watch live art, and mingle with an art/tech crowd in the US, Europe, and Singapore—all from the safety of your virtual pod.

Tickets and Event Page here: https://bit.ly/34f9Q8v.

Except where otherwise noted this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

“I am not particularly interested in artworks autonomously made by machines, and artworks that are generated simply by using the most recent state of the art. AI model quickly get boring for me.” - Terence Broad.

In science and engineering, a black box is a device or system in which inputs and outputs can be viewed, but the internal operation is unknown. When Google engineer Alexander Mordvintsev designed DeepDream (2015) to analyze visual imagery and understand how images were processed, the dream-like hallucinogenic outputs began to be appreciated also for their artistic qualities. Then, the growing interest in computer vision pushed the development into Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) with Ian Goodfellow and his colleagues.

Terence Broad is an artist and researcher who is currently completing a PhD at Goldsmiths in London. He is also a visiting researcher at the UAL Creative Computing Institute where he develops methods and tools to manipulate deep generative models.

From reversing and amplifying the uncanny valley of Mashairo Mori, to the research of novelty through the training of GANs without data, Broad’s approach is experimental, perhaps not always orthodox in the methods, research-driven and focused on exposing unseen aspects of the machine’s gaze.

[Fig.1] Video (un)stable equilibrium, Credits: Terence Broad. This is part of an ongoing series exploring the training of a machine without data.

Broad develops tools for artists and designers, and investigates the ways in which machine learning helps artists become differently creative.

“AI techniques are giving us very powerful tools for generation and representation, but there is a huge amount of scope for people to take these tools and do new and creative things with them, which is the approach I am taking with my artistic practice and my research.”

In Being Foiled, Broad approaches the uncanny valley in reverse and generates images that are less and less realistic until he reaches almost abstraction.

[Fig.2] Being Foiled — images where the uncanniness was most pronounced. Credits: Terence Broad.

[Fig. 3] Being Foiled— images at the end of the process where the results are almost total abstraction. Credits: Terence Broad.

In his own words: “Again, this work came out of the same desire to find ways of training models, such that the output was completely new and unlike any training data. I had been experimenting for some time with fine-tuning already trained GANs with different kinds of networks that had been frozen, forcing the output of them to change and converge into a new space […] I discussed this training process, and how the fine-tuning procedure, starting from realism and ending at complete abstraction, is a process of crossing the uncanny valley in reverse. Where normally the uncanny valley is a phenomena encountered when trying to create more realistic representations of people, this procedure encountered in the other direction, by deliberately producing representations that diverged more and more away from realism.”

Part of Broad’s research is centered on developing a method for analyzing a GAN to understand what the components inside are doing and discover how they work together. To know more about his work, read the full interview on my blog.

Except where otherwise noted this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

“I always had a need for the kind of self-expression that is associated with art. It comes from my home. My parents were writers. As I grew up, art, be it literature, music or visual arts, never was for me only an object for passive contemplation or consumption. It usually triggers in me a need to do something myself.” - Hannu Töyrylä

[Fig.1] Between the suns (2019), Credits: Hannu Töyrylä.

Hannu Töyrylä is a visual artist based in Helsinki, Finland, who makes videos, interactive installations and art prints using Artificial Intelligence (AI). Speaking of himself, he claims that he does not fall into the category of AI purists as his practice is based on the mix of manual work and image processing code starting with photography, for example.

His background combines a M.Sc. degree in applied electronics and telecommunications at Helsinki University of Technology, a PhD in Jewish Studies at the Theological Faculty of Åbo Akademi University, and an artistic path that spans from music to literature to visual arts. His work moves from a visceral need for self-expression, and it is through art that he tries to connect the constitutive components of his identity with the world.

Töyrylä develops a very personal approach to neural art, alternating a transformative process with a generative one and finding a balance between discovery and control. Seeking to develop an instinct with his neural networks, his practice tends towards exploration and experimentation.

The artist's inner world is enriched with the scholar's thought and the curiosity and technical skill of the engineer. His uniqueness as a man becomes a symbol of our humanity made up of memories, feelings, experiences, thoughts and actions. The artistic practice happens to be a moment of reflection and research in which individuality meets plurality in a mutual exchange, and where Artificial Intelligence proves to be an augmentative tool for self-expression.

[Fig. 2] Dance at an empty market (2017), an example of the artist's earlier transformative work which belongs to a series of personal dreamlike collages. Credits: Hannu Töyrylä.

[Fig.3] New Direction (2018), an example of virtual technique. Credits: Hannu Töyrylä.

When asked how he sees the future of AI Art, he said: “My conception of art is a human activity proceeding from a need for self-expression. As AI develops, it may be difficult to maintain such a balance that is essential in my work. I can see an industry arising from computational creativity, serving human needs for consumption, but it is difficult to see how it would relate to the human need for self-expression.”

You can read the full interview with the artist on my blog.

Except where otherwise noted this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Curated by Behnaz Farahi, the exhibition focuses on what it means being human in our digital age, bringing together political, social and psychological points of view. Technology and art create the opportunity for a new dialogue and critical thinking.

Featured artists are Krzysztof Wodiczko (in Hall of Drones), Behnaz Farahi (in Hall of Eyes), Memo Akten (in Hall of Learning to see) and Lauren Lee McCarthy (in Hall of Surveillance), while Hall of Reflection hosts a panel discussion about the gaze in its different forms.

[Fig.1] Video from Hall of Reflection, part of the online exhibition Returning the Gaze. In this panel discussion, Behnaz Farahi, Lauren Lee Carthy and Memo Akten are discussing the notion of “gaze”, “ways of seeing” and “surveillance” in the context of this group exhibition.

To watch the show, please visit: https://returningthegaze.com

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As a writer and public speaker, Mustatea focuses on the impact of technology on art and society. Her TED Talk raised questions on the value of art in the age of intelligent machines, shifting the attention from the output to the artistic process, and addressing the unsettling experience of machines' success. Her essays appear in Forbes, The Week, and Hyperallergic and tackle several aspects related to AI, including those about marketplaces and social media.

Mustatea is a member of the Interactive Experiences track of NEW INC, the art and tech incubator at The New Museum of Art in New York City, and co-curator, together with Heidi Boisvert, of the performance series EdgeCut.

Currently, the artist is involved in several projects. Among these, Voidopolis is a loose reinterpretation of Dante's Inferno presented in the guise of a digital exhibition that unfolds on her Instagram feed over about 40 posts. Once the story is completed, it will be removed as the intention is for it to be temporary and then disappear.

Mustatea’s guide is Nikita, a hobo who will take her through the streets of a New York hit hard by the pandemic.

[Fig. 1] Voidopolis, image installation. Credits: Kat Mustatea.

Inspired by the French movement Oulipo, Mustatea writes “a story about loss and cities told entirely in words that do not contain the letter e”. To do so, she uses a synthetic language (based on a pre-trained language generation model available on the web) augmented to produce sentences that have only words that don’t contain the letter ‘e’.

However, the text produced by the machine is used by Mustatea only as a starting point to develop a hybrid language that is the fruit of her own work.

“To be clear, it is definitely me composing, and not the AI. What the model helps to do is move faster through the initial research phase. By producing a lot of language quickly, I can start to feel out if it has the texture I want, before I go through the laborious process of actually composing."

[Fig. 2] Screenshot from Voidopolis, image installation. Credits: Kat Mustatea.

Compared to her other works that use a synthetic language, Mustatea points out that in Voidopolis “the missing letter is more conceptual, tied to the missing people all over the city who became sick and died all these past months. The images are also about loss: I create them by ‘wiping’ humans from stock photography. I was inspired to do this by the artist damjanski’s ‘post-human’ app, Bye Bye Camera”.

Omitting the letter ‘e’ means also to write a text that does not contain the past tense, translating the feeling of being trapped in an endless present with a vague sense of what the future will be.

Voidopolis was part of the Ars Electronica Festival 2020.

To learn more about Kat Mustatea's synthetic language for theater and live performance, visit my blog.

References

[1] https://cuevagallery.com/blogs/explorations-of-ai-art/theater-and-the-synthetic-language-of-kat-mustatea

[2] http://www.mustatea.com

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"I consider code, the algorithm itself, a work of art." - Sergio Albiac

Sergio Albiac is an artist based in Barcelona, Spain, with a computer science and art background who works at the intersection of deep learning, generative computer code and traditional media. Interested in exploring the realm of possibilities that technology offers, and not limiting his artistic expression to a single medium or style, Albiac investigates how traditional and new media can blend together, bringing to life something of great value. Thus were born paintings, video art pieces, interactive installations running on the cloud, giclée prints and generative portraits [1].

Fascinated by the dialogues between control vs. randomness, and human vs. machine, the artist's work investigates also the concepts of identity, creativity, emotions, memories, and chance, and gives space to the tensions that arise when the reality we build in our heads confronts the external world.

[Fig. 1] What is real (2019), experimental artwork, Credit Sergio Albiac, image BY-NC-ND. 

In The generative identity of Walter Vanhaerents, for example, a project and interactive art installation in partnership with Lexus, the artist transforms the car into a work of art. Each time the driver starts a journey, a new artwork is created using real time data from the car sensors. The output becomes a sum, and interpretation, of the artist's hand brushwork and generative aesthetics affected by the driving style and the duration of the drive. The project - which explores human identity by mixing choice and chance with randomness and control - has been a challenge and has pushed Albiac to further develop a flexible process of generative artistic creation that transforms meaning into artworks.

The artist investigates also the concept of creativity and artistic creation, comparing traditional and new media (and states of mind in the process). For instance, in Generative sketching, Albiac compares painting to a struggle between control and randomness, where the paint's behavior can not be fully mastered, but only affected by the technique chosen by the painter. The traditional sketching process, useful to test color and composition, starts with a vague idea that later takes on a clearer form as the work progresses. Once this idea is refined, it is put on a traditional medium giving life to a work of art. With neural sketching, instead, an idea in the artist's head is transformed into computer code, permitting to explore alternatives in a very different way compared to tradition. Writing the code for generating images to use as painting input, according to Albiac, could unleash the (infinite) potential of an artist.

[Fig.2] Artificially Grotesque 3 (2020), experimental artwork, Credit Sergio Albiac, image BY-NC-ND. 

The idea of infinite artworks, not curated by the human artist, but truly novel and created by generative assistants, has occurred for the first time in Stardust. Here Albiac has hypothesized the use of technology to outsource the creation of art. Like he explains: "Modelling artistic decisions into software would provide a generative assistant that could even survive an artist in the creation of meaningful works of visual art."

Technically speaking, his first works started with the use of Processing and then with the incorporation of pure "code" through multiple programming languages up to the use of GANs. About that, Albiac says: “ I still use generative code and I am incorporating GANs and, in general, deep learning techniques into my practice. More than a shift, it is an expansion of my toolbox. I see more potential in an "integration" of generative code with deep learning and this is one of the strategies I am exploring, along with the more direct use of standalone GANs and dataset design and creation.”

When I asked him what he thought about Artificial Intelligence in the arts, he told me: “I am interested in AI as a disruptive technology in relation to the individual and society. And I am interested in AI as artistic metaphor for consciousness, will and instinct. Finally, I am interested in AI as an instrumental technology to model complex generative patterns of outputs that might be useful in my work.”

Our chat considered many other aspects. To read the full interview with Sergio Albiac, please visit my blog here.

Resources and References

[1] https://cuevagallery.com/blogs/explorations-of-ai-art/sergio-albiac

[2] https://www.sergioalbiac.com

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"Deconstructing my own artistic process and teaching it to painting robots is my attempt at a better understanding of myself." - Pindar Van Arman.

Pindar Van Arman is a roboticist and AI Artist based in the US who aims to teach artonomous, a very sophisticated robot, to paint with expressiveness.

Is it only humans who are creative or can machines be too? This is the fundamental question that the artist tries to answer analyzing the creative process of painters. In his article [1] written for SuperRare, the marketplace for collecting super rare digital artworks, Van Arman borrows Paul Klee's words and explains how an artist's creative process is a feedback loop. He goes on to add that his robots behave in the same way as a human artist, leaving a mark on the canvas, stepping back and checking the effect and then finally making the next mark in a creative feedback loop. In the work of his robots there is no room for random decisions from complex data, but their aesthetic decisions are more based on purpose.

[Fig.1] The three artists. From the left, photographer Kitty Simpson, artonomous and Pindar Van Arman. Credits: Pindar Van Arman.

In an interview Van Arman explained that, in his works, the uncanny valley is the attempt to replicate human creativity. This makes people uneasy because it destabilizes one of the characteristics that make us human: the ability to be creative. Although his robots are not the artist, they show a sort of creativity and can make decisions on his behalf. They remember their past work and try to improve it, allowing their style to evolve over time, watching what they are doing and making adjustment in progress.

In order to bring artonomous to the status of a fine painter, Van Arman teamed up with photographer Kitty Simpson with the idea of teaching the robot to paint with emotions and expressiveness.

artonomous uses artificial intelligence, feedback loops, and deep learning to paint on its own. It is a collection of more than two dozen Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) algorithms, all fighting for control of a paint brush. Some of these algorithms are procedural, others are feedback loops, and many are neural networks attempting to imitate how the human brain works. While each algorithm has an important role in completing the artwork, the focus of this project is to improve the neural networks responsible for creativity and imagination.

[Fig2] Video of artonomous working on a new painting. Credits: Pindar Van Arman.

Van Arman declared in another interview that while a robot won't be able to make emotional art until it will become itself emotional, viewers can still get emotions from an artwork made by a robot.

“Art is an experience, not an object.” - Robert Motherwell.

It is in this space, indeed, that Simpson and Van Arman are directing their effort: to make a robot an artist capable of moving the human viewer.

 [Fig. 3] The process that teaches artonomus how to paint with expression. Credits: Pindar Van Arman.

The dataset is composed by a set of curated photographs taken by Kitty Simpson, in contrast to the common use of large datasets. At the beginning the robot studies the photographs and paints a representational portrait using its AI library.

Every eight portrait studies, artonomous analyses its work taking into consideration brushstrokes and final output in an attempt to improve its neural networks. Then, the robot paints an original abstract portrait which is judged by Van Arman and Simpson.

Once the two artists have decided how to proceed to implement the expressiveness of the robot, Van Arman tweaks the algorithms, modifies the hardware and the code trying to achieve the desired result. Each cycle of study, which will give life to 256 unique paintings, will bring the robot closer to the verge of complete creative autonomy and to Fine Art [2].

References

[1] https://editorial.superrare.co/2020/09/05/is-creativity-just-a-bunch-of-simple-algorithms-competing-with-one-another

[2] https://cuevagallery.com/blogs/explorations-of-ai-art/artonomus

[3] https://www.cloudpainter.com/ai-art-blog/2017/8/the-da-vinci-coder3

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Last year we discussed the introduction of machine learning and the use of a robotic arm in her practice. The artist explained that she was used to painting colorful city scenes before starting to code her art and that she used her painting process as a starting point to model the integration of programming into her new work.

[Fig.1] Joanne Hastie and her robotic arm. The artist is supervising the process. Credit: Joanne Hastie.

“There are so many uneventful tasks within the painting process that an artists does not realize they are doing. To automate the painting process, I had to become aware of them and find consistent patterns that could be programmed. “

Hastie confirms how the use of robotics and automation pushed her to focus much more on the process and less on the final image. It might sound unusual, but attention to detail has increased dramatically, from selecting colors to applying paint to the number of times the brush needs to be cleaned. The aesthetics of the image is still an important part that requires close supervision by the artist. This implies that Hastie keeps an eye on every brushstroke between every pass performed by her robotic arm.

[Fig.2] Prototype IX. The curves made by the robot simulate the fluid motions of a human hand. Credit: Joanne Hastie.

The introduction of automation and programming allowed the artist not only to understand more about her creative process, but to think differently and create more paintings from a block of code. This prompted her to dig deeper into her preferences, pushing the boundaries of her favorite palette. Hence, the robot's randomness encouraged her to use a wider variety of colors and allowed her to achieve loose abstract painting.

Working with robots offers the chance to connect and interact with the public in a way that creates a shared experience and a flow of new ideas for future work. However, as the artist says, AI Art in general creates both opportunities and challenges to meet the viewer's expectations. For this reason, the initial series Hastie worked on is a series of fluid paintings that resemble those of a human artist painting with a wrist or elbow motion that induces a curve.

[Fig.3] Joanne Hastie and her robotic arm. Credit: Joanne Hastie.

Her evolution from a realist painter to a technological artist is a very inspiring example of how technology can affect the practice of a traditional artist and expand the realm of creativity and artistic expression.

References

https://cuevagallery.com/blogs/explorations-of-ai-art/in-the-creative-world-of-joanne-hastie

https://joannehastie.com/

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Is it accessible to everyone? The answer is no, not completely, not yet. To use AI and ML techniques in the arts, you need coding skills and access to computing power. The good news is that a lot of effort is being spent now working on tools to create the space for more and more people to work with it.

Last year, Cueva Gallery decided to experiment with a new way of introducing AI into the practice of a traditional artist. This approach required no coding or processing, just a change in the artist’s mindset. [1] We contacted Mas, a self-taught artist who works with different mediums including glass, wood and porcelain, and proposed her to work with images generated by Artificial Intelligence as a raw material.

We introduced the artist to Residual, a collection created by the collective diavlex using Artificial Intelligence, and asked her to produce a new work.

[Fig.1] I see you, part of the collection Residual by diavlex. Credits: diavlex; Courtesy: Cueva Gallery

At the beginning of this experiment, Mas was unsure on how to process and meet the challenge. She was looking at images - painted by a machine that learnt to paint using brushstrokes - which do not correspond to a full animal painting. The output of the AI is, in fact, a residual image of an animal that the human artist can glimpse after several iterations. Therefore the untrained eye can initially capture only colors and shapes, but not much more.

[Fig.2] Work in progress: turtle painted on ceramic and inspired by AI. Credits: Mas.

Our goal was to find a way to use the output of the machine in a creative way with respect to the artist’s style, the rest was left in Mas’ hands. After a while, she understood that the images generated by the AI could have become great abstract paintings or something to draw inspiration from, but nothing to copy. This idea persuaded her to use AI as a Muse, as a tool for inspiration, and pushed her to create traditional images with a twist in composition and palette, using the color in a looser way.

[Fig.3] The Triptych: Owl, Turtle and Jaguar painted on ceramic with traditional technique, and inspired by AI. Credits: Mas; courtesy of Cueva Gallery.

This experiment shows that even non-tech-savvy artists can benefit from introducing AI and ML techniques into their practice, and that the use of technology can be done at different levels.

The possibilities that AI releases can spur a new creative process where artists can rethink and redesign their approach to producing art without losing their artistic identity.

Full interview with the artist here.

Resources and References

[1] https://cuevagallery.com/blogs/explorations-of-ai-art/when-a-traditional-artist-meets-ai-for-the-first-time-an-experiment.

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