Events

Unhuman: Art in the Age of AI is the first exhibition of art produced by the AICAN algorithm. Developed by Ahmed Elgammal, professor of computer science and director of the Art and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at Rutgers University, AICAN is an algorithm that autonomously generates novel images without human intervention. Inspired by theories from psychology and employing deep learning techniques, AICAN, by design, does not emulate existing works of art yet produces images that are still categorized as art by the program. The algorithm is intended to answer the question, “if we teach a machine how to recognize art and styles of art, and then program it to create new images that do not follow established styles, what would it create?” Already deemed by the media as passing the Turing test, this exhibition sets a new standard in AI art generation. Curated by Emily L. Spratt, Ph.D. candidate in art history at Princeton University, Unhuman: Art in the Age of AI is the product of what AICAN generated after exposure to 80,000 digitized reproductions of paintings in Western art. Featuring the materialization of 12 images printed on metal sheets, this exhibition is the result of a selection of images picked out of a digital constellation of visual content fabricated by AICAN. These handpicked images and their presentation as art produced by a machine are intended to interrogate the role of artistic authorship, the concept of creativity, and the meaning of computer-generated art in the age of AI. At the core of this exhibition is an exploration of the role of boundaries in safekeeping those seemingly inimitable qualities that we consider the hallmarks of the human experience. To understand what is human, we ask what is unhuman?  

Los Angeles: STATE Studio Pop-Up Gallery, October 3rd-28, 2017.  410 S Spring Street, Los Angeles, California 90013

Frankfurt: TheArt+ Event, Frankfurt Book Fair. October 11-15, 2017. 1 Ludwig-Erhard-Anlage, Frankfurt am Main, Germany 60327

The First Computational Art History Bootcamp at Rutgers.

The first computational art history bootcamp at Rutgers was held between May 23rd and May 27th 2016. The lab hosted Professor Marian Mazzone, Chair of art history at the College of Charleston. The bootcamp activities included a series of lectures, hands on workshops, and a field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, where graduate students in computer science interacted with and learned from Prof Mazzone about details of style evolution in art.