Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
AI group show: "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" open from 31st May till 30th September 2023 on k011.com.
Exhibited artists: Ivona Tau, Jenni Pasanen, Miss AL Simpson, Memo Akten, Alex Mordvintsev and Obvious.
Each artist offers a unique perspective, exploring profound themes of identity, consciousness, emotions, and the complex relationship between AI and humans, inspired by the thematics of Philip K. Dick's groundbreaking eponymous novel 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'
Many minds ponder the essence of AI art and the true nature of an AI artist. In our pursuit of understanding, this exhibition gracefully unveils the variety and range of artistic practices within the realm of AI. It also delves into the implications of creating and interacting with intelligent machines that can experience emotions and develop their sense of self.
Mentioning Dick's novel, the exhibition invites viewers to reflect on the ethical and existential questions that arise from the increasing integration of AI and robotics in our lives.
What sets this exhibition apart is that all six artists utilize the exclusive technology known as 0KAI (on k011.com). Each artist has been assigned a specific theme to contemplate throughout this long-form project. Through this innovative tool, they present a series of live-generated iterations, each inspired by their assigned motifs.
All collections are on https://0kai.k011.com/ , allowing collectors and enthusiasts to own a piece of this groundbreaking artistic exploration.
Collection release: Miss AL Simpson, 31st May, Ivona Tau ,17th June, Obvious group, 18th July. Jenni Pasanen, 18th July, Memo Akten, 25th September, Alex Mordvintsev (TBC).
METAMORPHOSES’ BY MISS AL SIMPSON
Metamorphoses comprise 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.
Miss AL is 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.
‘MACHINE-HEARTED’ BY IVONA TAU
This collection explores the complex umbrella of what feels intuitive to humans yet is challenging to interpret or analyze for machines and algorithms. In scientific research, there are usually only seven emotions (happy, sad, angry, neutral, scared ...). Still, it’s difficult for us to imagine feeling only one kind of emotion with our entire essence. What we mostly experience is an unexpected, conflicting combination of many elements. Emotion, the most primitive part of human essence, is also surprisingly difficult to analyze for machines.
The AI systems still struggle with emotion classification even though they have established ground-breaking success elsewhere. This project is an artist’s attempt to explore the large AI model’s strengths and shortcomings in expressing complex human emotions in visual form.
The data it was trained on has many biases and stereotyped emotional expressions, but can it also capture some more nuanced human feelings? Or is our emotion reflected in the stone-cold interpretation of the machine? And our mind becomes the medium for the sentiment to materialize.
Finally, the works are about the dissonance we might feel when reality does not conform to our expectations when it conflicts with our emotions. Can emotion ever be Artificial?
Ivona is a generative A.I. artist from Vilnius, Lithuania, who works with neural networks and code as a medium in experimental photography and motion painting. Her goal is to find and evoke emotions through artificially intelligent tools. She creates universally relatable memories by transforming her experiences captured on analog and digital film through generative neural networks (GAN).
SPECIESISM’ BY OBVIOUS
The 'Speciesism' collection explores the intimate relationship between human and machine. It invites the viewer to question the categorization of intelligent forms into species. As a result, this series questions our relationship towards other species, from the exploitation of animals to ensure our food chain, to the current debate around new rising forms of intelligence in the machine learning field.
This series refers to the book by Philip K. Dick, “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”, particularly to the sexual scene after which the main character starts feeling empathetic for androids, a species he has been hunting until that moment.
While science fiction has led us to personify AI, the recent research breakthroughs in this field leads to a display of excitement and fear towards these technologies. We are still far from having developed a new form of consciousness, but we should already ask ourselves if this is the ideal we wish to reach for, and if so, how we plan to interact with this new species.
Obvious is a collective of researchers, artists, and friends, working with the latest models of deep learning to explore the creative potential of artificial intelligence. They are behind the sale of the first AI artwork to go through a major auction house. They use their work to share their vision of artificial intelligence and its implementation in our society.
‘LOPE’ BY JENNI PASANEN
'Lope' is Jenni Pasanen's first long-form generative AI collection and is a study of humans as emotional animals. 'Lope' invites us to contemplate the interplay between the rational and the emotional, the programmed and the spontaneous.
This collection is a metaphor for a lope's smooth and effortless stride in the physical world and the fluidity and gracefulness sought by AI and human imagination. While AI absences a natural emotional component due to its programming and data inputs, and human imagination is constrained by individual experiences and cognitive abilities, the 'Lope' series mean to invite the audience to free exploration and creative expression, merging human & machine skill.
In this context, 'lope' is a powerful symbol of transcending existing boundaries and embracing curiosity, unlocking new possibilities for the artist herself. Departing from her customary practice of creating digital drawings using Artbreeder, AI, and Photoshop, Jenni embarks on a new chapter characterized by the pursuit of more surprise through an AI system beyond her ordinary control. By embracing the concept of 'Lope,' we are encouraged to break free from constraints, cultivate open-mindedness, and embrace the rhythmic patterns of creative thought. This approach allows for the convergence of AI and human imagination.
Jenni is an innovative artist navigating the intersection of human and artificial intelligence creativity, combining digital painting with AI to produce captivating, unprecedented artwork. Jennis artistic journey spans her entire lifetime, exploring various forms ranging from acrylic painting and clay sculpting to sewing, animation, coding, and 3D design. Never confining herself to a singular medium or style, Jenni has always been on the quest to find her artistic voice.