Today, everyone is talking about AI.
When Midjourney unveiled its impressive capability to craft any image in any style back in July 2022, the artistic community was left in awe. But a mere year has passed and now there are more AI image generators flooding the scene, boasting even higher precision and accuracy in producing intricate masterpieces.
Yet, let us not reduce the integration of artificial intelligence in the realm of art to a mere tool for generating images based on user inputs. Its potential goes beyond that. It has unveiled new possibilities for creativity and beckons us to explore the limitless horizons of the imagination.
Artists challenge art world with AI
I am excited to introduce you to my favorite artists: Sofia Crespo, Refik Anadol, and Holly Herndon who challenge the conventional perception of art and explore creative expression using machine learning processes like GAN and style transfer.
Their artworks range from 2D images, 3D models, and immersive installations to experimental music, blending the boundaries between the real and virtual worlds and inviting active engagement from the audience. Their works raise important questions about the relationship between technology and humanity, highlighting the potential of AI to expand our comprehension of the world and creative capabilities. They span across different disciplines - biology, histories, and collective memories of humans, urge us to think critically about the role of technology in our daily lives and the ethical implications of AI in art.
Sofia Crespo
Sofia Crespo, a luminary artist from Spain, is renowned for her awe-inspiring chimeralike creatures that delve deep into the realm of artificial intelligence. Her art probes into the fascinating interplay between natural and synthetic life and charts new frontiers in the domain of AI-based art.
Crespo's art is an extraordinary amalgam of machine-learning algorithms and digital life forms that blur the boundaries between organic and inorganic entities. With her Neural Zoo series of 2018, she has raised the bar of creativity to dizzying heights, as she blends the brilliance of neural network technologies with images of the natural world to forge an all-new form of art.
The denizens of the Neural Zoo may lack the solid, definable forms of their biological counterparts, with frog heads and insect wings appearing blurry and disordered. Nevertheless, their lively, energetic nature far exceeds that of any creature in the physical world, with a digital vibrancy and intensity that captivates the eye and mind. The creatures that emerge from this AI-driven artistic process are ethereal beings, brimming with life and vigor, yet far removed from anything that one could call real or tangible.
Crespo's art is not limited to the realm of abstract ideas and philosophical musings and pushes the boundaries of AI technology. Artificial Remnants is one of her proud projects created with the help of her studio partner Feileacan McCormick to train a data set of 3D scanned beetles. The project aims to honor the rich variety of insect life, not by creating exact digital replicas, but by presenting new digital creatures that are innately born in the digital realm.
From 2D GAN images to 3D artworks, Crespo has a bold attempt to comprehend the very essence of life and its origins. Her art embodies the concept of digitizing cognitive processes and leveraging them to generate inputs that can fuel the biological world, thereby creating a cycle of endless possibilities.
Refik Anadol
Refik Anadol is a media artist from Turkey who has made a name for himself by utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) in his installation artworks. Anadol's immersive moving AI-generated paintings, have earned him international recognition as a groundbreaking AI artist.
I once attended a Touchdesigner workshop where the lecturer spoke of the frequent requests for works similar to those created by Refik Anadol from clients. Anadol and his team’s innovative approach to merging AI and art have pushed the limits of what is possible in the field, breaking down the barriers between the physical and digital worlds and captivating the imagination of viewers and fellow artists alike.
Can data become a pigment? If machines can learn or process memory, can they also dream?
Anadol and his team of experts, including architects, storytellers, and musicians, are intrigued by those profound questions that later serve as the foundation for their artworks.
By employing complex AI algorithms to analyze and process vast amounts of data, including images, sound, and text, which he then transforms into visually and audibly stunning experiences, was later collided with reality. His technique frequently involves projecting his creations onto architectural structures, or displayed as moving digital sculptures in buildings, resulting in a flawless fusion of the physical and digital universes.
For example, his collaboration with LA Phill to celebrate the symphony’s 100 years anniversary resulted in the creation of "WDCH Dreams," a project that transformed 77 terabytes of data, the “digitally archived memories of 100 years” from the LA Phil digital archives into an awe-inspiring public art installation projected onto the Walt Disney Concert Hall's exterior, as the building can “dream” about its own histories.
With the help of AI, Anadol delves into the dynamic relationship among human perception, memory, and the surrounding world, crafting experiences that question our grasp on reality and stretch the limits of technology and art. The works that he terms "poetic data" can be enjoyed collectively as public art and massive installations, evidencing his exploration of the ever-evolving machines that share lives and histories with humans.
If you're in LA, don't miss Anadol's latest exhibition, "Living Painting," featuring a series of artworks based on datasets related to California that explore his fascination with the environments that have shaped his artistic vision. The exhibition is on display until April 29th.
Holly Herndon
If you believe that AI art is only limited to breathtaking visual arts, then you definitely need to explore Holly Herndon's exceptional works.
Holly Herndon, an accomplished American composer, musician, and sound artist currently resides in Berlin. Her impressive educational background includes a Ph.D. from Stanford University’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics, which is a testament to her deep knowledge in the field.
Herndon’s work focuses on developing cutting-edge technologies to experiment with her voice and image through critical research in artificial intelligence and decentralized infrastructure. One of her notable projects is the 2019 experimental album "PROTO," which she created in collaboration with her partner Mat Druhurst and their “AI baby”, a program called Spwan, which is a singing neural network.
"PROTO" presents Herndon and her partner's voices amalgamating into a synthetic female entity, a unique contribution to the album. Herndon also created training sets for Spawn to craft its own musical contribution. The album features an extensive range of sounds, from traditional human singing, and instrumental music to glitchy, crystalline computer-generated sounds, receiving widespread acclaim from both critics and audiences. The album gets an 8.2 out of 10 on Pitchfork album review.
Furthermore, Holly Herndon's latest venture involves the release of her 2021 NFT project, which showcases an AI music generator entitled Holly+. Holly Herndon has launched a new project named Holly+, which is driven by an AI-powered vocal tool from Never Before Heard Sounds studio. This vocal tool was trained on recordings of Herndon's singing. This exciting development opens doors for other artists to create music using an AI-generated replica of Herndon's voice, made possible by Herndon's decision to make her voice open source.
When you upload audio to the Holly+ website, an AI replica of Holly Herndon's voice will sing a song for you. After composing a musical piece, artists have the opportunity to submit their soundtracks to a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) for auction. The artwork will then be subject to a community vote, allowing other artists to collaborate and release music NFTs in tandem with Holly+. This NFT project approach creates an inclusive community of creators pushing boundaries collectively. Herndon leads the way in groundbreaking works and we can expect more awe-inspiring AI art in the future.
How will art look in the future?
In the realm of artistic expression, the future of AI art is a vast canvas full of unexplored potential. As each new advancement in AI technology unfolds, we can anticipate a more sophisticated and intricate form of art that pushes the boundaries of our current perception of what constitutes "art.”
As a digital media artist who utilizes technology as a medium, the rising trend of AI art not only inspires me to embrace new tools but also to experiment with the very notion of the "medium" itself. Through the use of AI technology, artists are now creating new worlds that we can experience without being limited by our human senses.
I imagine in the future, our perception of colors, sounds, and lights will gradually expand as we become more accustomed to AI integration into our daily lives. This awakening of fresh perspectives serves as a reminder to cherish creativity and appreciate the beauty of the unknown.
Reference
Articles
- How Did A.I. Art Evolve? Here’s a 5,000-Year Timeline of Artists Employing Artificial Intelligence, From the Ancient Inca to Modern-Day GANs
- Sofia Crespo’s “Neural Zoo” Offers a Speculative Vision of Nature – ARTnews.com
- Augmenting Perception: An Interview with Media Artist Refik Anadol
- Refik Anadol: Living Paintings | Artsy
- Holly Herndon: the musician who birthed an AI baby
