Page 353 - The Black Box Book

rithms. We determined that we would be able to capture visual representations
of modern Czech art in our digital dataset. Having a presence on the internet is
a necessity for a contemporary artist. The artist’s website includes samples of
their work, a description of their focus, a structured biography, and a list of their
accomplishments. Numerous gallery open calls and contests require an online
portfolio already. There is an emphasis on professional aesthetics and succinct
descriptions in documentary photography. The choice of keywords and proper
search engine optimization are also important. However, this presentation carries
the risks associated with putting any content on the internet, as well as risks
in relation to the works. Regardless of how well-considered the description or
photo evidence is, it does not correspond to the artwork. Presentation in varying
proportions distorts by translating a work created in one medium into another
medium (Figure 5). This practice can retrospectively affect the form of the art.
We obtained the list of Czech artists and their websites from the Artlist
database, a non-profit project of the Center for Contemporary Arts Prague,
which presents a representative sample of artists involved in the development
of contemporary Czech visual art since the second half of the 20th century,
with an emphasis on the post-1989 period.

“The initial source for the exhibition AI: All Idiots is therefore an image data- Figure 5: An example of a pho-
set containing material that Czech artists originally presented on their own tograph from the vernissage, Jan Mlčoch,
publicly accessible websites or blogs. Together, these portfolios provide http://www.mlcoch.net/, dataset
the curious AI with over half a million digital photographs and images. Is this AI: All Idiots, 2021
enough for AI to form a picture of contemporary Czech art and be able to
replicate its output?” (Javůrek, T. & Meixnerová, M. & Trnková, B., 2022)

F I L M

Jana Bernartová, one of the exhibiting artists, recognized that by sequentially
presenting individual photos from the dataset in a human-perceivable amount
of time, a distinctive animation with artistic elements is formed that, at first
appearance, mimics cinematic experimentation. The removal of images from
their original context and their presentation in new constellations is one of
the common means of artistic expression already established by the historical
avant-garde. However, in relation to the original material, it is also a significant
authorial intervention. Animating the collected material may appear to be
a straightforward method for introducing the audience to the dataset’s content.
However, this piece highlights the significance of a creative contribution that
only removes the work from its original context (Figure 6).

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