Generative artworks in Westworld season 4
Westworld season 4. © HBO
The world-famous and Emmy-awarded HBO series, Westworld returned with the 4th season on the 27th of June. If you watched the first few episodes of the show, you might discover a few hidden gems on the walls.
Westworld always pushed the boundaries of future technologies. The dystopian science fiction has been taken the most compelling questions about robot consciousness, the ethics of artificial intelligence, and neuroscience. Regarding new technology and AI, the creators pay attention to every small detail, even what hangs on the wall. They featured many generative artworks from several well-known artists, like Mario Klingemann or Entangled Others Studio, which fit perfectly into this futuristic world.
In this article, we collected all the featured artists and artworks from the show.
THE BUTCHER’S SON, 2017, Giclee printing with long-lasting mineral pigments, by Mario Klingemann © Mario Klingemann / © HBO Westworld
MARIO KLINGEMANN, The Butcher’s Son series
Mario Klingemann is a generative artist and skeptic, whose preferred tools are neural networks, code, and algorithms. His interests are manifold and in constant evolution, involving artificial intelligence, deep learning, generative and evolutionary art, glitch art, data classification, and visualization or robotic installations. If there is one common denominator it’s his desire to understand, question, and subvert the inner workings of systems of any kind. He also has a deep interest in human perception and aesthetic theory.
His artwork, The Butcher’s Son series reflects the artist’s long-term interest in AI. He focussed on the human body training his AI models to explore postures, based on the analysis of images found on the internet. The artwork was generated entirely by a machine and ‘painted’ by a generative adversarial network. It’s using a method known as ‘transhancement’, which adds hair, skin texture, or another pixelated form to the image.
HYBRID ECOSYSTEMS SERIES: Dawn Feeders - Totemic Dusk - Field Nurture, Hahnemühle Photo Rag Fine Art Print, by Entangled Others Studio © Entangled Others Studio / © HBO Westworld
ENTANGLED OTHERS STUDIO, Hybrid Ecosystems series
Sofia Crespo and Feileacan McCormick, co-founders of Entangled Others Studio, experiment with generative art to move further into an entanglement with the more-than-human world of us & others. A world where diversity and inter-connectedness are nurtured and engaged through neural art.
The Hybrid Ecosystems series is an exploration into creating an unveiling of our entangled world. The digital and physical world seems at first glance separate, occupying different layers of reality that seem to reluctantly interact. The reality of our mundane life is that these two layers of reality are in fact tightly interwoven, constantly influencing, interacting, shaping & reshaping, consuming, and acting. The artwork explores how we can stretch our imagination so as to see a world of harmoniously interacting artificial and natural life as one single, sustainable ecosystem.