ARTIST AND AI: COMPETITION? REPLACEMENT? ASSISTANCE? CO-AUTHORSHIP? SYNERGY?
- mail76643
- Jun 8, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: Jul 17, 2024
July 2, 2024, Jerusalem, Israel / Online
As part of LASER Talks Jerusalem and LASER Talks CYLAND.
Online + President Hotel Arts Center, Ahad Ha’Am 3, Jerusalem, Israel.
Chairs: Galina Bleikh (Israel), Daria Kesler (Israel), Anna Frants (USA), Natalia Kolodzei (USA).
Panelists: Kirill Azerniy (Israel), Eugeny Nikitin (Israel), Galina Bleikh (Israel), Dr. Lev Manovich (USA).
Moderator: Daria Kesler (Israel).
Organisers: INEMEA Art & Science Lab, CYLAND Media Art Lab.
The discussion, initiated by the INEMEA Association in collaboration with the CYLAND Media Art Lab, brings together artists, poets, and leading cultural theorists to reflect on shifting relationships between artistic production and artificial intelligence (AI). Taking place both online and offline, this LASER Talk focuses on the challenges posed by AI as a new subject and creator of art. What is an artist and artistic practice in the era of AI? How does the rapid development of AI-related technologies affect the way artists define their roles and methods? Is Artificial Intelligence a competitor, assistant, co-author, or synergistic partner?
During the conversation, speakers will share insights on their work and examine how AI affects their creative thinking. Kirill Azernyi and Eugeny Nikitin will present their collaborative visual and textual project, Whispered Commands, reframing relationships between voice recordings and AI-generated images. Galina Bleikh will speak about her work, The Tumbleweed Cities. Taking images of cities generated by the Mdjourney artificial neural network as a starting point, the project invites viewers to investigate these unreal yet recognizable digital landscapes disconnected from geographical, political, and socio-cultural contexts.
Dr. Lev Manovich will introduce Artificial Aesthetics: Generative AI, Art and Visual Media. The book draws on a unique set of perspectives that combine Emanuele Arielli's expertise in the philosophy of art and experimental psychology of art with Lev Manovich's expertise in media theory, data science, and digital art, as well as his practice as an AI artist. The book is the first to bring these different perspectives together. It examines the impact of generative AI on concepts in art theory and aesthetics and practices in visual art, design, and media.
Kirill Azerniy
Kirill Azernyi is a writer, poet, translator, and publisher. He has been writing fiction since 2005; his stories and short stories have been published in literary magazines Novyi Mir, Ural, Flagi, Artikulatsia, Gone Lawn, Flatbush Review, and The Minute Review. Kirill Azernyi has published two books of prose, The Present (2011) and A Doomsday Man (2015). He is the publisher of the samizdat magazine Zdes (2015—2020), dedicated to contemporary experimental prose, poetry, and essays. He has participated in the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa (USA, 2015), the IX St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum (Russia, 2021), and the SlovoNova Free Culture Forum (Israel, 2023).
Galina Bleikh
Galina Bleikh is a multidisciplinary artist based in Jerusalem, Israel. Her creative expertise spans a rich spectrum of artistic domains, encompassing digital art concepts, 3D modeling, AR and VR, bio-art, video art, generative art, and more. At the heart of her artistic pursuit lies a fascination with the profound synergy between the emerging artificial reality and its transformative interaction with human experience through art. Galina's creative endeavors extend to collaborative projects, notably in partnership with Elena Serebryakova since 2011. Together, these two artists have created the visionary concept of 'The Simulacro-Centric World,' a manifestation of their unique creative approach referred to as Hybrid Neural Network Art (HNN Art). She is a co-founder of the INEMEA Association for Art, Culture, and Education and the INEMEA Jerusalem Art & Science lab. Since 2024, she has become a host of Leonardo ISAST Laser Talks Jerusalem.
She has exhibited in numerous museums and galleries, including ArtPlatform-On (South Korea, 2022), The CICA Museum of Modern Art (South Korea, 2021), NordArt (Germany, 2019), Haifa Museum of Art (Israel, 2018), LA Art Show (USA, 2013), Artco France Gallery (France, 2012), Art Asia Miami (USA, 2011), etc. She is the curator and participating artist of the Jerusalem Biennale (Israel, 2023–2024).
Daria Kesler
Daria Kesler is a cross-disciplinary researcher and artist who works with human—and machine-generated texts, sounds, documentaries, scents, and video art. She is interested in using modern technologies and science to spread empathy toward all species and explore new ways of co-living between technology, humans, plants, and animals. Daria Kesler holds an MA in Art&Science (Hybrid—Technological and Bio Art) from ITMO University, St. Petersburg, Russia.
Dr. Lev Manovich
Dr. Lev Manovich is an artist, writer, and one of the most influential theorists of digital culture worldwide. He is currently a Presidential Professor of Computer Science at the City University of New York's Graduate Center and the Director of the Cultural Analytics Lab. After studying painting, architecture, and filmmaking, Manovich began using computers to create digital art in 1984. He has played a key role in creating four new research fields: new media studies (1991-), software studies (2001-), cultural analytics (2007-) and AI aesthetics (2017-). Since 1991, he has published 190 articles that have been translated into 35 different languages and reprinted over 800 times. He authored and edited 16 books, including Artificial Aesthetics, Cultural Analytics, Instagram and Contemporary Image, Software Takes Command, and The Language of New Media, which has been called "the most provocative and comprehensive media history since Marshall McLuhan." His projects have been exhibited in 14 solo and 122 international group exhibitions at many prestigious institutions, such as the Institute of Contemporary Art (London), the Centre Pompidou, The Shanghai Biennale, and The ZKM | Center for Art and Media.
Eugeny Nikitin
Evgeny Nikitin is a multi-faceted artist known for his work in poetry, prose, translation, criticism, and AI artistry. His literary prowess has been showcased in renowned magazines like "Novy Mir," "Vozdukh," and "ROAR," and he has published four books of poetry and two collections of stories. He has earned spots on the longlists for the "Debut," "NOS," and "Poetry" awards. Aside from his literary work, Nikitin participated in the 53rd Venice Art Biennale (2009) as part of the project "Making Words" and has performed at Actionfield Codra (2009) and Thessaloniki Biennale (2010). He is the founder of "Metajournal" – an online platform of contemporary poetry.