Page 345 - The Black Box Book

A CROSS SECTION ACROSS ARTIS-
TIC AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

This article provides the conceptual basis and examples of the imple-
mentation of the group exhibition project AI: All Idiots, which was part
of the Other Knowledge exhibition series at the MeetFactory Gallery in
Prague in 2021. (for a view of the exhibition, see Figures: 1 and 2).
The purpose of the project was to bring the subject of modern artificial
intelligence to the attention of the general public while still being artistically
stimulating. In lieu of the conventional strategy of curating a selection
of artworks created by artists working with AI, we opted to start from
scratch by gathering online digital copies of selected artworks by Czech
artists, which served as a training dataset for our original AI software.
The artists were also involved in the data’s interpretation. The experiment
addressed the widespread use of AI for web content analysis, artists,
curators, and the art community as a whole, as well as the question of
whether AI operates as a source of information to generate stereotypical
products that cannot do more than statistically confirm and continously
repeat what is already known.

“The language of the algorithms of machine learning is uncompro-
mising and vulgar. It is the language of unscrupulous statistics with
the cynical goal of extracting value (information) wherever possible. Figure 1: View of the exhibition, Figure 2: Aimee, a digital guide,
The conception of AI: All Idiots appropriates this vulgar language and AI: All Idiots, the MeetFactory Gallery, AI: All Idiots, the MeetFactory Gallery,
lays bare the degradation of human beings into statistically more Prague, 2021, photo: Katarína Hudačinová Prague, 2021, photo: Katarína Hudačinová
or less important objects; spectacular sources of data. To referents
of stereotypes that are to be statistically confirmed and forever re-
peated. The AI: All Idiots exhibition project represents a cross section
across “artistic” and “artificial” intelligence on a sample group of
Czech artists. This engenders an attentional shift from the individual
artistic products to the fact that art also exists within the context of
digital technologies where artificial intelligence encounters them.”
(Javůrek, T. & Meixnerová, M. & Trnková, B., 2022)

The cultural environment today is fundamentally determined by
the operation of digital technologies and learning algorithms. A fast-paced,
self-interested interactive dialogue between prosumers and technology
developers about the tools for creating content and the formats of its
consumption has replaced the traditional role of visual professionals as
the ones responsible for creation. We are still exploring potential avenues
for the art world to participate in this creative dialogue, not only in terms of
formal inspiration and the use of pre-built AI tools, but also, and perhaps
more importantly, in terms of generating novel perspectives and agendas
that complement critical art practice.

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