the Art of A.I. at the Mannheimer Kunstverein last weekend
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the art of artificial intelligence
Not everything turns out perfect for the supercomputers, but that doesn't mean they're gaining relevance any less.
What do artists Diego Mendoza, Alba Flora Mendoza, Zoey Preston, Valeria F. Belova, Taavetti Ketoja, and Saki Vuma have in common? They are not humans, yet they each have their own personal story and even an artist's biography.
Take Diego Mendoza, who tackles issues of double standards and societal controversies in his works reminiscent of advertising posters. There's "rebellious and profound" Zoey Preston with her nude portraits. Or the Japanese pop art sensation Saki Vuma, who describes his garish pink kitsch art as "naughty." It's delightfully eccentric.
The mastermind behind these characters is none other than AI connoisseur and artist Stefan Schrön at the Mannheim Art Association. With the help of artificial intelligence, Schrön has created six identities that form the collective "Infinite Mind." ChatGPT crafted their biographies.
The effect is startling when viewing the images also created with the help of AI: even though they do not exist, like pop star Vuma or the rebellious Preston, viewers develop a relationship with them. Their style seems individual and authentic. It's not necessary to like it, but one can imagine how an art lover elsewhere might recognize Saki Vuma's signature in a pink unicorn. Is this something to fear? Hardly.
Zoey Preston & Alba Flora Mendoza
Saki Vuma Fanclub Hawaii
The Mannheim Art Association hosted a meet-and-greet weekend titled "The Art of Artificial Intelligence," which served both as an exhibition and a symposium – admittedly a bit impromptu, as Friedrich W. Kasten, the chairman of the Mannheim Art Association, confesses. "We aim to explore how one can create aesthetic products with AI while maintaining leadership," says Kasten. "Much of it is experimental." The topic of artificial intelligence is more relevant than ever in the art world, attracting many visitors to the rooms on Augustaanlage on Sunday.
There, they saw works by four human artists: Moto Waganari, Jo Jacobs, Gunnar Keppler, and Stefan Schrön with his collective. Not everything on display is self-explanatory. This is particularly true for AI art: seeing is one thing, understanding another. The prompts, the input commands that an AI uses to generate something, are long and complex.
Creating an artwork with the help of a machine is not a snap of the fingers. Gunnar Keppler allows an AI to attempt to create faces in a real-time experiment.
Stefan Schroen, Creator of “Unendlicher Verstand” lead artist Union Vogelhirsch
The new technologies are already stirring up the art world. Discussions revolve around copyright, regulation, and control – and, of course, the perpetual question of what artificial intelligence can and cannot do. "AI does not understand causal relationships," Stefan Schrön explains in his lecture. However, it is unbeatable when it comes to patterns. The victims in the art world, according to Schrön, are comic studios. Because at Marvel and the like, it's not about the individuality of the characters. That means: Spider-Man should always look the same.
Friedrich W. Kasten is not sounding the alarm bells; for artists like Moto Waganari, the monitor is simply paint and brush. Kasten is also concerned with media literacy, as illustrated by an installation in the corner of the exhibition room. On a stack of newspapers sits a screen displaying AI-generated images of supposed natural disasters.
The pressing question: How can I recognize if an image is created by AI? Schrön suggests looking at the hands, but even there, AI is getting better. Or it circumvents the problem with an almost human trick: if you don't know what to do with your hands, the best place to hide them is in your pockets.
Author Jesper Klein / Translator: GPT4
