OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF our new video series as KVG Virtual Artist Studio visits - TODAY WITH SOFIA CRESPO FROM HER STUDIO IN BERLIN, GERMANY!
Starting today, we are launching our first video from our new series as KVG Virtual Artist Studio visits! Short films are created out of desire to give a sneak pick of how the artists work and talk about their practices.
Sofia Crespo is our first artist, inviting us on an exclusive ‘behind the scenes’ video tour of her studio!
Title: biomimicry_003
Year: 2020
Authors: Dark Fractures & Sofia Crespo
Series: Artificial Remnants
Technique: GANs
Duration: 00:04
‘Can we use new technologies to dream up biodiversities that do not exist ?’ - Sofia is a generative artist working with neural networks and machine learning with a huge interest in biology-inspired technologies. One of her main focuses is the way organic life uses artificial mechanisms to simulate itself and evolve, this implying the idea that technologies are a biased product of the organic life that created them and not a completely separated object. On the side, she is also hugely concerned with the dynamic change in the role of the artists working with machine learning techniques.
Sofia is guiding us through a little journey where you can get the amazing opportunity to see where and how she produces her work, with a special focus on her latest series Artificial Remnants developed together with artist Dark Fractures and ‘{}Chromatophores’ created with engineer Andrew Pouliot:
Title: chromatic_meditations()
Authors: Sofia Crespo & Andrew Pouliot
Year: 2020
Series: Chromatophores
Technique: GANs
Duration: 00:09
“The pigment-bearing organs, or chromatophores, that enable many cephalopods to change the colouring and patterns of their skin in order to camouflage themselves are thought not merely to increase the odds of survival, but also be a means of communication. These works are communicative meditation wherein the generative output of an aquatically trained neural
network is interacted with, and gently manipulated, so as to create a (bio)mimicry of multiple cells acting in concert to convey tonality, atmosphere and accentuation.”
Selected works from {}Chromatophores, Artificial Remnants and Neural Zoo projects are available for sale exclusively at Kate Vass Galerie store as unique works digitally and on the blockchain.
Sofia, recently interviewed by CLOT magazine, shares
‘… My work aims to visually understand the shapes of nature using new technologies such as deep learning. Working on Neural Zoo has led me to reflect on the meaning of creativity, the functioning of our visual cortex for pattern recognition, and the evolution of life in itself with its adaptations and challenges.
The fact that Neural Networks got abstractly inspired by the functioning of the visual cortex, led me to think about the flow of information in the creative process ie the way as a child I developed a phobia of jellyfish, which eventually became a fascination for the visual elements of the jellyfish and finally the focus of an artwork. I wondered if there’s a ‘dataset’ of human experiences in our brains, that we constantly filter through and rearrange, and that ‘rearranging’ of the elements into novel ones is what we refer to as creativity. No matter how hard I try, I can’t imagine a colour that I haven’t previously seen, but I can imagine combinations of the ones I have seen, similarly, a neural network can’t create something out of the blue from a dataset that hasn’t been fed to it but it can recombine elements from data that has been given to it.’
Sofia Crespo
{unfolding_2121}, 2020
Neural Zoo series
Technique: Convolutional Neural Network
P.S. First of all, we would like to say thank you to Sofia for taking her time to invest in this project , it is a real pleasure to work with her and the works that she creates are absolutely stunning! Secondly, we would like to encourage everyone to place comments and questions to the artist after watching the “studio visit”, so we can follow up and respond to all in our next chapter with Sofia Crespo!
Enjoy it!
Kate Vass Team
Christie’s and Warhol Foundation to Present Photographs Sale for Coronavirus Relief
From the mountains of Colorado, to the beaches of Montauk, to the tulips lining New York City’s Park Avenue, Andy Warhol knew how to capture the beauty of the everyday scenes that surrounded him. Commonly known as the “Master of Pop,” Better Days features a different, but ever important, side of Warhol’s body of work. Christie’s is delighted to support the Andy Warhol Foundation’s recent emergency relief fund for artists through Better Days, featuring original photography by Warhol. Proceeds will contribute to the Foundation’s endowment, allowing it to support artist-centered organizations, the creation of new work, and projects that make significant contributions to the visual arts field. Let us transport you on Warhol’s travels across the country and bring you to “Better Days.”
“You need to let the little things that would ordinarily bore you suddenly thrill you.” – Andy Warhol
Source: Christie’s
To the online-only sale & browse lots please visit: Andy Warhol: Better Days
sofia crespo artist studio visit - exclusive kate vass galerie series !
We are excited to launch our new series as KVG Virtual Artist Studio visits. Short films are created out of desire to give a sneak pick of how the artists work and talk about their practices. Usually, only few people get to know or have time to travel and visit the artists in person, we wanted to give an audience a taste of what it was like to meet the artists face to face, and get a snack-sized introduction to the artist’s world through a series of short, playful videos with still profound content.
We at Kate Vass Galerie are glad to share a short preview of what will come as our first virtual studio visit! Sofia Crespo is inviting us on an exclusive ‘behind the scenes’ video tour of her studio! Sofia Crespo is an artist working with a huge interest in biology-inspired technologies. One of her main focuses is the way organic life uses artificial mechanisms to simulate itself and evolve, this implying the idea that technologies are a biased product of the organic life that created them and not a completely separated object. On the side, she is also hugely concerned with the dynamic change in the role of the artists working with machine learning techniques. Sofia will guide us through a little journey where we will get an amazing opportunity to see where and how she produces her work, with a special focus on her latest series ‘{}Chromatophores’ created together with engineer Andrew Pouliot:
“The pigment-bearing organs, or chromatophores, that enable many cephalopods to change the colouring and patterns of their skin in order to camouflage themselves are thought not merely to increase the odds of survival, but also be a means of communication. These works are communicative meditation wherein the generative output of an aquatically trained neural network is interacted with, and gently manipulated, so as to create a (bio)mimicry of multiple cells acting in concert to convey tonality, atmosphere and accentuation.”
Selected works from {}Chromatophores will be soon available for sale exclusively at Kate Vass Galerie as unique works digitally and on the blockchain.
Don’t miss it!
HAPPY EASTER! SPECIAL OFFER ON SELECTED WORKS
Easter has always been a moveable feast, but this year that takes on new meaning as many enjoy their Easter Sunday dinners virtually and bring the Easter egg hunts indoors. In this spirit, we have made a selection of some artworks that you can browse online and grant along the 10% discount as a gift for you, therefore to add those works to your existing collection or treat your loved ones with the special gift, or maybe start your collection now and benefit from the Easter offer!
The promo is valid from April 5th until April 25th, 2020 for all online purchases on our website. Check them out!
*Shipping worldwide is available, with little delays to some locations. We will gladly calculate best quote for you!
Happy Easter from Kate Vass Team!
Next Generation: AI meets human creativity in Sofia Crespo’s Neural Zoo
FREYA HUTCHINGS
FEBRUARY 11TH 2020
Sofia Crespo is a Berlin-based digital artist and recent Applied Computer Science graduate. She uses machine learning techniques to create unnatural images of nature. With an interest in the workings of the human brain, Crespo looks at the similarities between techniques of AI image formation, and the way that humans express themselves creatively and cognitively recognize their world. This, combined with her fascination of shapes, forms and colors found in nature, results in a series of awe inspiring images that force our brains to engage with nature in entirely new ways.
Crespo's work brings into question the potential of AI in artistic practice and its ability to reshape our understandings of creativity. Indeed, AI may influence the things we make as much as we influence it. If an artists’ equipment has always been an extension of the artist, where does machine learning stand in this balance?
We spoke with Crespo to hear more about her project, Neural Zoo..
READ FULL INTERVIEW ON NEXTNATURE.NET
OSINACHI EXHIBITION @ KVG FEATURED ON Brittle Paper
February 18th, 2020
The Nigerian visual artist and writer Osinachi is set for his debut solo show. Themed “Osinachi: Existence as Protest”, it aims to provoke critical thinking while challenging preconceived norms. In his usual distinct style, Osinachi uses colorful art to offer an alternative interpretation to literature, politics, and ordinary living. The show will be held at the Kate Vass Galerie in Zürich, Switzerland, in March 2020, and will feature limited edition prints and NFTs.
Osinachi, who is noted as Africa’s foremost cryptoartist, is especially remarkable for his use of Microsoft Word—rather than art applications—to create art. Some of his pieces appear in the Art Naija Series anthologies—Enter Naija: The Book of Places (2016) and Work Naija: The Book of Vocations (2017)—as well as in 14’s anthologies—We Are Flowers (2017) and The Inward Gaze (2018)—the last of which had its cover designed by him. We previously covered his work, when he was still making the switch from literature to visual art. He is an editor at 14 and at 20.35 Africa: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry. He is the first Nigerian to showcase artworks at the Ethereal Summit, a conference in New York that seeks to bridge the gap between technology and art through blockchain.
Osinachi
DAVID YOUNG on ESPACE art actuel cover
Lancement ESPACE art actuel
N° 124 (hiver 2020)
Dossier « IA, art sans artistes ? / AI, art without artists? »
CIRCA, art actuel
Samedi, 25 janvier 2020, 15 h à 18 h
372, rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest, espace 444
Dossier : IA, art sans artistes ? / AI, art without artists?
Comment pouvons-nous aujourd’hui situer l’artiste ou, plus largement, l’acte de création faisant appel à l’intelligence artificielle ? Codirigé par Nathalie Bachand, ce dossier comprend 9 textes signés par des historiens de l’art, des artistes et des philosophes qui, chacun à leur façon, posent des regards à la fois sensibles et rigoureux sur cette question.
[Lire l'éditorial et consulter le sommaire complet]
Auteurs/autrices (dossier) : Sofian Audry, Nathalie Bachand, Daphné Boxer, Andreas Broeckmann, Grégory Chatonsky, Anne-Marie Dubois, Martin Gibert, David A. J. Murrieta Flores
Auteurs/autrices (autres sections) : Peter Dubé, Julie Hétu, Stefan Krämer, Elise Anne LaPlante, Éric Legendre, Joni Low, Camille Paulhan, Marie Perrault, Jean-Michel Quirion, Bénédicte Ramade, Julia Skelly, Mathieu Teasdale, Manon Tourigny
Artistes (dossier): Sofian Audry, Robbie Barrat, Adam Basanta, Zach Blas, Ben Bogart, Sam Bourgault, Monty Cantsin?, Grégory Chatonsky, Ian Cheng, Collectif Obvious, Jake Elwes, Justine Emard, fabric |ch (Christophe Guignard et Patrick Keller), Johannes Heldén, Pierre Huyghe, David Jhave Johnston, Håkan Jonson, Lawrence Lek, Seiko Mikami, François Quévillon, Anna Ridler, Helena Sarin, Shinseungback Kimyonghun, David Young
Artistes (autres sections) : Numa Amun, Laura Aguilar, Panos Balomenos, Cindy Baker, Steve Bates, Jennifer Bélanger, Elisabeth Belliveau, Rebecca Belmore, Maeve Brennan, A.A. Bronson et Adrian Stimson, Philippe Caron Lefebvre, Dana Claxton, Revital Cohen et Tuur Van Bal, Dave Cooper, Noémie DesRoches, Patricia Dominguez, Jeneen Frei Mjoot, Cyprien Gaillard, Gauri Gil, Jérome Havre, Marguerite Humeau, G.B. Jones, Keyezua, Kapwani Kiwanga, Sholem Krishtalka, Anouk Kruithof, Manuela Lalic, Corine Lemieux, Zachari Logan, Jumana Manna, Izumi Miyazaki, Kent Monkman, Caroline Monnet, Francis Montillaud, Bridget Moser, Diane Obomsawin, Rafael Ortega, Juan Ortiz-Apuy, Paul Painlevé, Celia Perrin Sidarous, , Napachie Pootoogook, Lisa Rave, Jocelyn Robert, Abel Rodriguez, Natalie Sappier (Samaqani Cocahq), Sarah Saunders, Susan Schuppli, Cauleen Smith, Charles Stankievech, Althea Thauberger et Kite, Anna Torma, Camille Turner, Mia Sandhu, Claire Savoie.
THE TOOLS OF GENERATIVE ART, FROM FLASH TO NEURAL NETWORKS by Jason Bailey for ART IN AMERICA
Great article by our dear curator Jason Bailey for Art In America, make sure to read it!
Like it or not, we are all computer nerds now. All aspects of our lives are driven by computation and algorithms: how we learn, work, play, even date. Given this situation, one could argue that generative art—work created at least in part with autonomous, automated systems—is the art that best reflects our time.
Generative art was initially rejected by the cultural establishment as the domain of computer scientists and mathematicians. Grace Hertlein says a colleague called her a “whore” and a “traitor” for her use of the computer as an art-making tool in the late 1960s.¹ In a 1970 New York Times review, critic John Canaday compared a display of computer art he saw at a convention to “popular sideshows” and “circuses.”² But recent years have seen a spike in institutional interest in generative art, as evidenced by a number of museum shows.³ Perhaps this embrace is linked to the increased accessibility of technology, as computers and network connections have become commonplace in homes in the last two decades.
5 Digital Art Trends to Expect in 2020
By Elena Zavelev on Observer
The year 2019 showed that the contemporary digital art market, while still in its infancy, has substantial potential for growth. In 2019, new media art was frequently shown at contemporary art museums worldwide, including Nam June Paik’s show at Tate Modern, the exhibition “The Art Happens Here: Net Art’s Archival Poetics” at New Museum and MoMA’s “Surrounds” show of 11 contemporary installations. Artificial Intelligence (AI) art was a key point of discussion at Christie’s Art+Tech Summit in New York as well at Kate Vass Gallery’s show in Zurich this summer. This all in the same year that Pace Galleryannounced the launch of PaceX, a new initiative to promote projects that unite art and technology. It was also the year that we at the New Art Academy launched CADAF, an art fair dedicated entirely to digital art, with two successful editions—one in New York and one in Miami. At both these events, collector interest served to further illustrate the growing desire for various digital art mediums including Artificial Intelligence and Augmented/Virtual reality works. Now, with CADAF’s Miami edition under the belt, I’d like to take a look into 2020 and touch upon the trends that, in my opinion, will dominate the market in the next year.
COOL HUNTING | MIAMI ART WEEK 2019: PREVIEWING THE CONTEMPORARY AND DIGITAL ART FAIR
Cool Hunting featuring CADAF Miami, See you all there 5-8 Dec 2019 !
Read full article here
miamiartzine | There's a New Fair in Town for Miami Art Week CADAF: A New Acronym for the Art Season Contemporary and Digital Art Fair
There's a New Fair in Town for Miami Art Week
CADAF: A New Acronym for the Art Season Contemporary and Digital Art Fair
Art Basel Miami Beach is being teed up on the 2019 schedule whether you have shaken the last dregs of summer sand out of your shoes or not. Download the fall season into your hard drive. It's time to ramp up.
Digital art is getting it's due as the world spins faster and faster like plates on a juggler's sticks. Truth in truisms applies here, the more you know the more you realize you don't know.
Debuting in May of this year in NYC, CADAF interprets their fair as works which "include the diversity of digital mediums ranging from the traditional, such as Video and Stop Motion art, through to creative uses of Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality".
Partnering with the Wynwood Business Improvement District (BID) CADAF provides a physical platform to educate audiences in all aspects of digital art. In 2019 several fragments of this genre (ie Blockchain, Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence) have produced separate conferences. CADAF brings this diversity and latest innovation in it’s entirety to the 2019 Wynwood fair. Forty artists (TBA) will be represented including several from the South Florida demographic.
Digital art is following the photographs trajectory into the hearts of curators and collectors. When the medium of photography first began seeping into the fine art realm and for sometime after, there were questions of rightfully belonging. It offered a new way to understand experience, but the big question "Was it art?", hung in the air? The creative digital world has gone through the same uncertainty.
I connected with Elena Zavelev, Founder and CEO of CADAF and the New Art Academy to fine tune a few points of interest.
Irene Sperber: Is there still a line between art and the digital medium? Blockchain-based platforms now deal with the issue of provenance. Was there a pivotal event(s) that brought digital art into focus for collectors?
In 2001, Artport, the Whitney Museum's portal to Internet art and an online gallery space for commissions of net art and new media art, was launched.
Recent critical events for collectors of digital art community include:
Last year, October 2018 - AI artwork sold at an auction at Christie’s New York (Portrait of Edmond Belamy). Achieved 45 times its high estimate at $432,500 and received a lot of press, where discussions around AI copyright were brought to the fore; educating a wider audience on the intricacies of digital art.
This March (2019) AI work Memories of Passersby I by Mario Klingemann sells at Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Day Auction
IS: Are there still stumbling blocks to overcome regarding its solid place in the art world?
EZ: "Blockchain has provided a new, very promising tool for artists and collectors to store provenance and ownership information, playing a role in empowering the art market with more tracking capabilities.
However the technology is still new and the solutions offered to artists and collectors yet have to be polished and refined to be adopted by the broader art market. For example, some of these provenance tools can be used by anybody creating the "trash in, trash out" problem (someone famously uploaded the Mona Lisa to one of these databases under his name. Blockchain does not solve this issue). Other tools are very advanced technically but lack onboarding easiness for the art market to make a real use of it. It is still far from a mass adoption scenario.
This will change with an increasing number of tech-savvy collectors along with the proliferation of digital tools supporting the growth and development of the digital art market. It is an amazing time to witness the progress and help educate artists, collectors and professionals about these tools with online resources but also curation and events like CADAF art fairs."
IS: There are many aspects to digital art, what, specifically should CADAF educate us about this relatively modern creative medium?
EZ: "Great question - as advocates of digital and new media art one of our main priorities is to help demystify the medium for the wider audience.
Topics we focus on include: collecting digital art, artist copyright and royalties, display and conservation practices, and much more. We also explore the market and investment opportunities within the digital arts and how new technologies, including blockchain, are supporting transactional security and market transparency."
IS: What is the focus of Digital Art right now? AI? Has the Miami CADAF fair been curated differently than, say, the New York fair?
EZ: "With recent auctions at Sotheby's and Christie's showing successful sales in AI work, this medium has garnered a lot of attention in the market.
This being said, CADAF offers a platform to show both large-scale immersive digital projects, but just as importantly, a place for independent digital artists of all digital mediums to show their work.
For our Miami edition, we will continue to show the diversity of digital mediums including VR, AI, Blockchain and Video art from international galleries and artists.
In addition to this, we are thrilled to be based on the MANA Contemporary campus, positioned in the center of Wynwood, one of Miami's most creative communities. This has allowed us to collaborate with local artists and ArtTech community and showcase both at the upcoming fair."
I believe we need to save room for visiting the new fair during our cultural Miami twirl December 5-8.
Thursday, December 5th: Test drive this new fair at the opening Party and Exhibition Preview to include installations, a VIP Pre-Sale and, naturally, drinks and a DJ to help us log on.
The fair will continue Friday through Sunday with a series of panel discussions, artist Q&As and performances.
CADAF Fair Hours:
Opening Party and Exhibition Previews: Thursday, Dec. 5, 2019: 6-11 p.m.
General Admission.
Friday, Dec. 6, 2019: 10:30 a.m – 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 7, 2019: 11:30 a.m – 6:00 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 8, 2019: 11:30 a.m – 5:00 p.m.
Location: Mana Wynwood C&L Building 2400 NW 5th Ave, Miami, FL 33127.
For Tickets: cadaf.art
And Talks/Paneldiscussions/Q and A and performances: cadaf.art/cadaf-talks
AUTOMAT UND MENSCH CURRENTLY FEATURED ON DISCOVER GERMANY
AUTOMAT UND MENSCH CURRENTLY FEATURED ON DISCOVER GERMANY
https://discovergermany.com/herbert-w-franke-new-forms-of-artistic-expression/
Artory Announces Partnerships to Help Protect Digital Art
Kate Vass Galerie is excited to announce new partnership with Artory which enables the gallery to verify works on behalf of the artists we represent.
On display below ”Anonymous-warhol_flowers@Apr_16_16.08.26_2019” by artist Cornelia Sollfrank, Computer-generated with the help of the net.art generator (http://net.art-generator.com)
Potential buyers can see that a piece is validated, but the records are also available to the public to see.
“To me as a gallerist is very important to ensure that my clients can prove where they have bought the artwork and that work is authentic and belongs to them, crypto signed by both the artist and the gallerist.”
Artory’s other new partners include: CADAF, Khora Contemporary, DADA, and Artxcode. The digital art marketplace OpenSea and the creative technologists Larva Labs have also signed on.
Thank you Barron’s for sharing this news! And special thanks to the founder and dear friend Nanne Dekking for this fantastic collaboration! More information here
