On Saturday 4 November at ARoS, our chief curator Moritz Neumüller announced the winners of the Open Call. This was the culmination of an exciting seminar and process on AI and art.
We are very proud to present the winners here alongside the comments from the jury below.
Click here to see all the participants.
“A classic poetic vision of the Anthropocene, imagined from the depths of artificial intelligence. The sci-fi-like atmosphere in the pictures is highly intriguing, encouraging you to ponder the beauty and wonder of the natural world and its perpetual destruction. The book format is convincing also, including the detail that it is printed using uncoated, recycled paper and plant-based inks; and that all profits will be donated to the Marine Conservation Society to help their important conservation work to protect the world’s oceans.”
Second Prize (shared)
Sarina Lirosi, Shades and tints
“A nostalgic collage of early scientific and pictorialist elements, inspired by Abraham Werner’s ingenious 1814 colour code, the Nomenclature of Colours – the preeminent guide to the hues of the natural world and its classification for artists, scientists, naturalists, and anthropologists in the nineteenth century, first published in the pre-photographic age. Lirosi’s project is a very poetic series of stunningly beautiful images created by using the generative AI system DALL·E 2. They arose through the insertion of text prompts from the colour descriptions in Werner’s book. Lirosi introduces a fascinating concept that makes you reflect on our epistemological framework, the beauty of nature, and the perspectives of artificial intelligence.”
Camilo Echeverri, El Mato
“El Mato (The Jungle) is a stunning narrative about how to survive in the face of a climate catastrophe. Amazon communities aim to protect their sacred jungle and traditions. The collision of ancestral culture and future technologies in a wild nature environment creates an intriguing mystery that drags the viewer towards a poetic universe, where things are not always explained. The images have a fresh and contemporary quality that is related to motion pictures and popular culture, and alongside the political dark side they give us a sense of optimism and even humour, which can be a rare thing when it comes to AI-generated images.”
Honorary Mention
Rory McLaughlin, Synthesis
“The project is based on a dialogue between the author and a machine. While the images were made in a traditional way with a camera, AI was used on the text level, in a playful yet still critical manner. It is an interesting and multilayered project that addresses artificial intelligence in a critical and self-reflexive way. Mixing the voices of Rory McLaughlin and a chatbot called Ava, it dwells on the beauty of nature, life, and human beings, while discussing the potential risks and opportunities of advanced AI. The project has a strong narrative carried forth by the uncanny dialogue between Rory and Ava, as well as its visuals, with a series of black-and-white photographs focusing on the contrast between natural and industrial environments.”
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