Transhumanism and AI in art
Because art is a zeitgeist and a form of historical and sociological document, we have to register this in our work for future generations. Where do we go from here? What does it mean to be human? How does this effect art?
Never in history have we had so many tools for creating new work. The rise of IT has given rise to a new set and breed of artists - digital artists. The high art society is still dominated by traditional forms of self-expression but since Banksy made street art go mainstream, we have seen a dramatic shift in how the public perceives nontraditional forms of art. The addition of social media - platforms like Pinterest and especially Instagram - has given many of us an opportunity to engage with the broader audience. We finally have our time on the stage but I'm not sure we're using it to the fullest potential.
Just like many amputees have become faster and stronger thanks to high-tech prosthetics, so have many artists who have tapped into these new tools and resources. It gives those of us who integrate new technology into our process a seemingly unfair advantage over those who stick to expos and galleries. Does not using Photoshop or machine learning makes art more pure? Acrylic paints are made of polymers and spray paints haven’t been around for that long either - does this make art made with these resources less pure?
Sougwen Chung - a Chinese/Canadian contemporary artist uses robots to create art, and through her process she delves deeper and discovers more about her innerself. When teaching her mechanical partners, she has to consider a lot more parameters than when making art on her own. When we teach others - we understand the processes and mechanisms a lot better ourselves. It is therefore my firm believe that thanks to these droids she makes far more interesting art - not because of the droids' help but because of how they make her analyse hew work. Technology makes you think in a different, unfamiliar way. Here's a video you should watch from a conference (Google I/O'19), where she explains quite well how the practice alters hew work:
Cedric Kiefer gives his take on the subject of transhumanism in art and at 12:55 Sougwen Chung proceeds with her talk. The main concept here, I believe, is that machines give unconventional, nonhuman outputs and when analised by a human this can lead to interesting modifications to our own work. The talk also tackles the issue whether AI could potentially replace artists and how neural networks not meant for artistic purposes play into our practice.
Nick Briz, a Chicago-based artist, makes some good points and further elaborates on the topic of using modern technologies for artistic purposes. Using these techs has been around for much longer than one might think - I'd put the date around 1960's (read further here). Briz argues further that we are currently living through a new revolution in technology, which will drastically change the art space and shape the conversation on the subject.
At the end of the day, art belongs to the whole of humanity. It's inherited by future generations to build upon and expand. A lot of people are part of the process - those who make paint, canvases, software, computer peripherals, hardware, history, culture - we are the culmination of thousands of years of ideas and development. No artist is truly original - we are reflections of our time, our culture, our society and history. Through this process alone, we become more than human.
Image courtesy of H. Heyerlein [@heyerlein].