Paintings are created at the touch of a button. Neuronal networks, which were smiled at by the art world just 6 months ago, are now producing design results that have an intimidating effect. The temporary exhibition “MACHINES VS. HUMAN ART”, which opens at POP KUDAMM – Place of Participation on Kurfürstendamm in Berlin on 15 September 2022, provides an insight into a currently intensively and controversially discussed topic in the art world – artificial intelligence art (AI Art). Visitors to the exhibition will be actively involved in exploring the topic of AI Art. The exhibition is curated by Alex Gürten, Sven Sauer and Clara Sauer.
Image above: Sven Sauer
Whether we like it or not, artificial intelligences (AI) will very quickly become an integral part of our lives. Hardly any other area of technology has made so many leaps forward in recent years. AI is also penetrating more and more into areas of human creativity.
One side of the artists calls technology the most important development in the art world in the last 10 years, the other side sees their profession endangered. Because innovations always evoke fears. For example, some established artists who work with AI Art are afraid to show it for fear of negative effects on their reputation. But what is really behind the numerous discussions on the net?
In the field of work, there is a long-term certainty: we humans will be replaced by technology and automation. As early as 2017, an Oxford study predicted that almost half of all jobs will be replaced by computers in the next quarter century. Since then, creative professions have been considered the last bastion of humanity. In this sense, a “Future of Jobs” report declared creativity as the most important skill of the workforce that cannot be replaced so quickly.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sees AI art as an “early example of the impact of AI on the labour market. A decade ago, physical work was identified as the first casualty of AI systems – creative work, on the other hand, as the last target. But now it looks like it’s going the other way round”. Is the statement really true?
At the centre of the exhibition MACHINES VS. HUMAN ART features 24 artworks by digital artists. Parts of these artworks were created with the help of AI-based platforms such as DALL-E, Midjourney, Disco Diffusion or Stabel Diffusion. However, the exhibition organisers do not reveal which artworks are AI-based and which are classic concept art. At the entrance to the exhibition, each guest receives a card on which he or she may write down by whom the artworks were presumably created: human or machine. In this way, visitors can form their own impression of the quality of AI art today.
Technology holds impressive opportunities that we are only beginning to understand. An undiscovered new territory in the art market.
Participating artists
Philipp Scherer, Max Riess, Tobias Mannewitz, Jimmy Duda, Greg Rutkowski, Dziga Kaiser, Benjamin Nowak, Daniel Alekow, Chris Sanchez, Quick-Eyed Sky, Spencer Fahlmann, Niko Craft, Alex Gürten, Chris Smallfiels, NIN, Daniel Oxford, Stijn-windig, Proxima centauri b, Weaving with Gan
Curators: Alex Gürten, Sven Sauer, Clara Sauer
An audio guide and a panel on AI art provide comprehensive coverage of the subject.
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PANEL: “Blind mirrors – The human struggle of AI in art”.
Wednesday, 21.09.2022, 7:00 pm
Guests: Dr. Bernd Flessner, Anne Müller, Tobias Mannewitz
Dr. Bernd Flessner
Born in Göttingen in 1957, studied Theatre and Media Studies, German Studies and Modern History in Erlangen, doctorate in 1991 with Theo Elm on Arno Schmidt’s and Stanislaw Lem’s conceptions of the future. Taught at the Central Institute for Scientific Reflection and Key Qualifications at Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg since 2011. As a futurologist, he works with numerous institutions and companies. Collaboration on numerous scenario studies as well as lectures on various future issues. His focus is on the future of the media and the convergence of technologies. Writes as a science and culture journalist for the NZZ, NZ, Kursbuch, Kultur & Technik, Archiv – Magazin für Kommunikationsgeschichte, BR, ZDF, among others.
Anne Müller
Anne Müller lives and works in Berlin as a copyright lawyer in the field of artificial intelligence. She examines the concrete applicability of AI in various areas and is an expert in the field of copyright.
Tobias Mannewitz
Tobias Mannewitz works as Design Director at KARAKTER Design Studio, which he founded in 2008. He has received multiple Emmy Awards for Excellence in Visual Effects for his own work on the series “Game of Thrones”. KARAKTER specialises in the design of virtual worlds for the entertainment industry. The studio’s work fuels brands such as Sony’s “Horizon Zero Dawn”, “Call of Duty: Black Ops” or the “Anno” series. Mannewitz lives in Potsdam and now works on his own entertainment formats and brands. Through AI-supported illustrations, he was able to revive a 25-year-old heart project whose ambitious realisation would otherwise have been impossible.
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POPKUDAMM is POPKDM
A place for cultural diversity and development of modernity, close to Gedächtniskirche, Zoo-Fenster, Upper West and Café Kranzler. As a Place Of Participation, the POP KUDAMM offers space for a conceptual interaction of art, commerce, intellect and brand. This can be anything – but above all it is inspiration, concept, holistically conceived. Obtained through a meeting and working of knowledge and art, of commerce, everyday life, consumption, questioning, inventiveness and creativity and curiosity. A constant re:inflection. Urban art & culture builds bridges to these themes at POP KUDAMM. In exhibitions, installations, narratives and performances, artists ‘ping’ urban life in its various facets, create the creative connection and demand the pong. In this way, POP KUDAMM forces the dialogue on cohesion and participation and generates knowledge for the transformation of our city, which is shaped by people and their content.
WHERE?
POP KUDAMM, Kurfürstendamm 229, 10719 Berlin-Wilmersdorf
WHEN?
Exhibition dates:
Thursday, 15. September until Saturday, 1. October 2022
Opening hours:
Wednesday to Saturday, 12:00 – 8:00 pm
Sunday, Monday + Tuesday closed
