“METAMORPHOSES" BY MISS AL SIMPSON - 100 ITERATIONS 31/05
Miss AL Simpson, an award-winning crypto artist, has been at the forefront of the web3 movement since 2018. Renowned for her distinctive style, she seamlessly merges digital graffiti with animated 3D historical motifs. Notably, AL Simpson has embarked on pioneering AI collaborations that push the boundaries of traditional art paradigms. By embracing the potential of artificial intelligence as a creative partner, she redefines the future of crypto art.
As part of the curated group exhibition "Do Androids Dream About Electric Sheep?" by Kate Vass Galerie, opening on 31/05, Miss AL Simpson presents her first AI long-form project ", Metamorphoses." This series comprises 100 unique live-generated iterations and serves as the beginning of the ongoing show. Drawing inspiration from the epic poem "Metamorphoses" by the Roman poet Ovid, Miss AL Simpson embarks on a novel approach for a long-form project. The mythological tales within Ovid's work explore themes of transformation, encompassing love, desire, power, and social and political climate, often incorporating themes of transformation and change that mirror the turbulence of our current society.
Miss AL Simpson's rendition of "Metamorphoses" is a timeless and enduring series of works. Ovid's "Metamorphoses" has profoundly influenced Western literature and art for centuries. Miss AL Simpson draws upon these timeless stories to explore the complex relationship between AI and humanity. For instance, in the tale of Narcissus, who becomes transfixed by his reflection, Simpson finds a parallel to humans fixating on the output of AI, perceiving it as conscious and relatable rather than recognizing it as the product of an algorithm. With masterful skill, she adapts the themes of transformation and the interplay between the human and AI realms, resonating with contemporary audiences. Leveraging the capabilities of 0KAI, Miss AL Simpson develops her concept by employing prompts and a combination of traits and rarities, blending the poems with her earlier analogue artwork from 2018 to create a beautiful body of work.
"Metamorphoses" will be presented as a Dutch auction on May 31, 2023, at 8 pm (CET) on https://0kai.k011.com, offering art enthusiasts an opportunity to engage with and acquire this remarkable collection.
This series of works are about the "AI commodification of consciousness" as a future concern within the context of the past through Ovid’s “ Metamorphoses”.
Written by Miss AL Simpson
ART PRACTICE - COMMODIFICATION
My artistic practice has always questioned the issue of COMMODIFICATION. Commodification is the transformation of goods, services, ideas, and people into commodities or objects of trade. I have particularly been intrigued, to-date, by the commodification of women within advertising and the COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS.
In the context of fashion magazines, women (their images, personalities, and stories) are often commodified, particularly through advertising. In many fashion magazines, the presentation of women often conforms to conventional beauty standards and societal expectations. The images, articles, and advertisements typically emphasize physical appearance, style, and consumer goods, implicitly suggesting that women should strive to achieve these standards and lifestyles. This depiction can commodify women by reducing their value to their physical appearance and consumption habits, and by promoting a specific, often unattainable, ideal of femininity. This commodification process is not just about selling products; it also sells an image, a lifestyle, and a specific set of values. Advertisers use these techniques to create a desire for their products, linking them to the attainment of the promoted ideals.
My practice (pre-AI) was always about ripping up this commodification, sometimes literally, through ripping up the magazines into collage. Sometimes by using ink, textures and paint to obliterate the fashion magazine advert completely. This was done both in an analogue and digital way. This method can be seen in a lot of my pre-AI artworks. IN this way, I have also always explored the issue of transformation.
This is one aspect of the commodification of consciousness but what is interesting is whether tokenizing NFTs is another aspect of the commodification of consciousness too. In terms of the commodification of consciousness, if we interpret consciousness broadly to include the creative and intellectual output of an individual, then the creation of NFTs based on our artistic ideas and execution could be seen as a form of commodifying consciousness. Each NFT is a tokenized version of an artistic idea, and the sale of these tokens effectively turns those ideas into commodities.
THIS PROJECT
As you can see, there is a connection with this project and my practice. Also, I like the fact that I am literally feeding my old cryptoart images (based on a similar theme) into the machine to generate new AI images.
As an artist who has explored the concept of “COMMODIFICATON” for the whole of my practice, it seemed like a natural progression to look, with a kind of futurism, to how COMMODIFICATION might look down the line. With the rapid growth of AI, I was intrigued by the concept of AI COMMODIFICATION OF CONSCIOUSNESS, both for its mystery but also for what it might mean for humans. I thought that it might be interesting to explore this transformative idea by looking at past mythology through the eyes of Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses” which is all about transformation.
The AI Commodification of Consciousness refers to the idea of artificial intelligence technologies being developed to a point where they can replicate, simulate, or even surpass human consciousness, with this capacity being bought, sold, and traded as a commodity. This raises a host of ethical, philosophical, and socio-economic questions, including the nature and value of consciousness, the ethical treatment of artificial entities, and the potential consequences of creating and distributing such technology.
"Metamorphoses" is a Latin narrative poem by the Roman poet Ovid, completed in 8 CE. It is an epic exploration of transformation and change in mythology, ranging from the creation of the world to the deification of Julius Caesar.
With this project “Metamorphose”, I have brought together all three aspects into one:
1. Commodification
2. Transformation
3. Relating the other two concepts to a future where AI and Humans work hard find out what that means for our Consciousness.
I wanted to keep some reference to my early roots of exploration of this field so there is an AI interpretation of ripped Vogue magazine textures and dripping black ink. However, are the figures Greek figures from Ovid or are they future AI metaphors? That is for the viewer to decide.
DETAILS OF THE PROJECT
1. Pygmalion and the Statue (Book X): Pygmalion sculpts a woman out of ivory that is so beautiful and lifelike he falls in love with it. He prays to Venus to bring the statue to life, and his wish is granted. This story relates to AI in that we are creating something artificial (the statue/AI), that could become 'alive' in a metaphorical sense (consciousness). It brings up questions about the creation of artificial life and love for the artificial.
2. Daedalus and Icarus (Book VIII): Daedalus, a skilled craftsman, creates wings for himself and his son Icarus to escape from Crete. Icarus flies too close to the sun, melting his wings and causing him to fall into the sea and drown. This story brings up themes of human hubris, the misuse of technology, and unintended consequences, all of which are relevant to AI development.
3. Echo and Narcissus (Book III): As I detailed in the previous responses, this tale's themes of self-love, replication, and the inability to return love can all be related to AI commodification of consciousness.
4. Tiresias (Book III): Tiresias was transformed from a man into a woman, and then back into a man. This could be used to discuss the fluidity and transformation of identity, a relevant theme when considering how AI might assume various roles and identities.
5. Arachne and Minerva (Book VI): Arachne, a skilled mortal weaver, challenges the goddess Minerva to a weaving contest. Despite Arachne's undeniable skill, Minerva transforms her into a spider for her hubris. This tale could be related to AI, questioning how far we can push our technological 'weaving' before we incur unforeseen consequences.
NARCISSUS AND ECHO
In the story of Narcissus and Echo from Ovid's "Metamorphoses", a critical moment and line that encapsulates the tragedy of Narcissus is:
"quis fallere possit amantem?"
This line translates to "Who could deceive a lover?"
This line comes from the following context in Book III (lines 339-510), where Narcissus sees his own reflection in the pool and falls in love with it, not realizing it's his own image:
"stupet ipse videnti, seque probat, nitidisque comis, lucidus et ore. qui simul adspexit, simul et notavit amantem; quodque videt, cupit, et, quae petit, ipse recusat, atque eadem adspiciens perituraque desiderat ora, ignarusque sui est. incenditque notando, utque sitim, quae non sitiat, bibendo movet.
. . .
manibusque sua pectora pellit, et illas rubet ire vias, et rubet ire vias, tactaque tangit humum lacrimis madefacta suis. . . . quis fallere possit amantem?"
Translated, these lines convey:
"He wonders at himself, and stirs the water, and the same form appears again. He does not know what he sees, but what he sees kindles his delight. He sees himself in vain, and thinks what he sees to be nothing. He himself is the object that he burns for, and so he both kindles and burns in his desire.
. . .
He struck his naked body with hands not strong for the purpose. His chest reddened when struck, as apples are wont to become, or as the purple surface of a grape, when it is pressed with the finger, before it is ripe for the table. . . Who could deceive a lover?
In the line "quis fallere possit amantem?", Narcissus is so consumed with his own image that he fails to recognize the deception – the lover he sees is himself. It demonstrates the destructive power of self-love and obsession, and could be related to AI in the sense of our societal narcissism and infatuation with our own technological prowess, to the point that we might fail to perceive the pitfalls and risks of creating machines that mimic or surpass our own cognitive abilities.
PYGMALION AND GALATEA
The key Latin line from Ovid's "Metamorphoses" that encapsulates the moment of transformation when Pygmalion's ivory statue (later known as Galatea) becomes a living woman is as follows:
"corpus erat!"
This line translates to "It was a body!"
This short exclamation is found in Book X, line 243. The full context is as follows (lines 238-243):
"oscula dat reddique putat loquiturque salutatque, et credit tactis digitos insidere membris, et metuit, pressos veniat ne livor in artus, et modo blanditias adhibet, modo grata puellis munera fert illi, conchas teretesque lapillos et volucres et mille modis pictas anseris alas."
Translated, these lines convey:
"He gives it kisses and thinks they are returned; he speaks to it; he holds it, and imagines that his fingers sink into the flesh; and is afraid lest bruises appear on the limbs by his pressure. Now he brings presents to it, such as are pleasing to girls; shells, and pebbles, and the feathers of birds, and presents of amber."
The sentence "corpus erat!" (line 243) comes after these lines, and it is the moment when Pygmalion realizes that the statue has transformed into a living woman. He can feel warm flesh instead of the cold ivory he had sculpted, marking the incredible transformation from inanimate object to living being. It is this moment that relates most strongly to the concept of artificial intelligence, particularly the point at which AI might become indistinguishable from human consciousness.
DAEDALUS AND ICARUS
The story of Daedalus and Icarus in Ovid's "Metamorphoses" provides one of the most iconic cautionary tales in literature. Here's a key Latin line from the tale found in Book VIII:
"ignarus sua se quem portet esse parentem."
Roughly translated, it means "unaware that he is carrying his own downfall."
The line comes from the following larger context (lines 183-235), where Daedalus warns his son, Icarus, about the dangers of their flight:
"medio tutissimus ibis. neu te spectatam levis Aurora Booten aut Hesperum caelo videas currens olivum: temperiem laudem dixit. simul instruit usum, quale sit iter facias monstrat, motusque doceri.
. . .
ignarus sua se quem portet esse parentem."
Translated, these lines convey:
"You will go most safely in the middle. Lest the downy Bootes, seen by you, or Helice with her son, or Orion with his arms covered with bronze, draw you away, take your way where I lead; I command you! We go between the sword and the late-setting constellation of the Plough. Look not down, nor summon the constellations that lie beneath the earth, behind you; but direct your face to mine, and where I lead, let there be your way. I give you to these to be taken care of; and, although I am anxious for my own safety, my chief concern is for you, which doubles my fear. If, as I order, you control your course, both seas will be light to me. While he gives him advice, and fits the wings on his timid shoulders, the old man's cheeks are wet, and his hands tremble. He gives his son a kiss, one never to be repeated, and, raising himself upon his wings, he flies in advance, and is anxious for his companion, just as the bird, which has left her nest in the top of a tree, teaches her tender brood to fly, and urges them out with her wings. He bids him follow, and directs his own wings and looks back upon those of his son. Some angler, catching fish with a quivering rod, or a shepherd leaning on his staff, or a ploughman at his plough-handle, when he sees them, stunned, might take them for Gods, who can cleave the air with wings. And now Samos, sacred to Juno, lay at the left (Delos and Paros were left behind), Lebynthos, and Calymne, rich in honey, upon the right hand, when the boy began to rejoice in his daring flight, and leaving his guide, drawn by desire for the heavens, soared higher. His nearness to the devouring Sun softened the fragrant wax that held the wings: and the wax melted: he shook his bare arms, and lacking oarage waved them in vain in the empty air. His face shouting 'Father, father!' fell into the sea, which from him is called the Icarian. But the unlucky father, not a father, said, 'Icarus, where are you? In what place shall I seek you, Icarus?' 'Icarus' he called again. Then he saw the feathers on the waves, and cursed his arts, and buried the body in a tomb, and the island was called by the name of his buried child."
In the line "ignarus sua se quem portet esse parentem," Daedalus is unaware that he carries his own sorrow, or his own downfall. This is a poignant moment, highlighting the tragic nature of technological overreach, which is a highly relevant theme when discussing the potential risks and dangers associated with artificial intelligence.
ARACHNE AND MINERVA
In the tale of Arachne and Minerva (also known as Athena) from Ovid's "Metamorphoses", a significant line that illustrates the central conflict and subsequent transformation is:
"mutatque truces voltus et inpendit Arachnen."
This translates to "She changes her savage expression, and attacks Arachne."
This line is found within the following larger context in Book VI (lines 1-145), where Arachne, a mortal weaver, dares to challenge the goddess Minerva to a weaving contest:
"quod tamen ut fieret, Pallas sua tela removit, quaeque rudis fecerat, laesaque stamina vellis corripuit virgaque truces acuit iras, mutatque truces voltus et inpendit Arachnen."
Translated, these lines convey:
"However, so that it might be done, Pallas removed her own web, and the threads that the unskilled woman had made, and had spoiled with her fleece; and she struck Arachne's impudent head with her hard boxwood shuttle, and attacked her with it. And Arachne was afraid, and she grew pale."
Following this, Minerva turns Arachne into a spider for her hubris, forcing her to weave for all eternity. This story is a cautionary tale about the consequences of challenging the gods, or in a broader sense, transgressing natural or established boundaries.
When applying this to AI, it could be interpreted as a warning about the potential dangers of challenging the natural order with our technological creations. Just as Arachne faced consequences for her hubris in challenging a god, we may face unforeseen consequences in our pursuit of creating machines that mirror or even surpass human intelligence. The transformation of Arachne into a spider can symbolize the transformation of society and individuals through the advent of artificial intelligence.
TIRESIEAS
In the story of Tiresias in Ovid's "Metamorphoses", a key Latin line that captures his transformation from man to woman and back to man again is:
"Corpora Cecropius rursus nova fecit in artus."
This line translates to "Again he made new bodies with his Cecropian hands."
This line comes from the larger context in Book III (lines 316-338), where Tiresias experiences his unique transformations:
"... si qua est fiducia vero, tu mihi, qui volucres oras mutaris in illas quas petis, et gemino reparas te corpore, Tiresia, dic' ait 'o, melior, cum femina sis, an auctor cum sit amor nostri?' Tiresias 'quamquam est mihi cognitus error,' dixit 'et ante oculos, ut eram, non semper adesse, nec male Cecropias inter celeberrima matres versatus, septemque annos effecerat illa. octavo, ad veterem silvis rediere figuram, et cecidere nova forma pro parte virili. saepe, puer, plena vitam sine femina duxi, saepe meis adopertus genitalibus ignes persensi, multoque tui tunc artior ignis. corpora Cecropius rursus nova fecit in artus, omnibus ut feminae cessissent partibus illi; tuque, puer, neque enim est dubium, tibi magis uror.' "
Translated, these lines convey:
" ... if there is any confidence in the truth, you tell me, who transform the wings that you seek into those that you have, and repair yourself with a double body, Tiresias, whether, when you are a woman, or when the author of our love is, is better. Tiresias replied, 'Although I am known to be mistaken, and not always to be before my eyes, as I was, nor to be badly among the most famous mothers of Cecropia, and that woman had completed seven years. In the eighth year, they returned to their old figure in the woods, and their new shape fell away in the male part. Often, boy, I have lived a life without a woman, often I have felt fires covered by my genitals, and your fire is then much tighter. Again he made new bodies with his Cecropian hands, until all parts of that woman had given way to him; and you, boy, for there is no doubt, I burn for you more.' "
Tiresias, having lived as both a man and a woman, is asked by Jupiter and Juno to settle a dispute over which gender derives more pleasure from love. His unique experience of transformation and identity can be related to AI in terms of how artificial intelligence can assume various roles and identities, providing unique insights that may not be accessible to humans. This can open up discussions about the fluidity and adaptability of AI, and its ability to take on diverse perspectives and functions.