no. 03
SERIAL EXPERIMENT

Author: Neelabh Kumar

Categories
reflection Unit 4

Final Reflections

The past 8 months, I have spent trying to understand the relationship between visual artists and generative AI technology. The journey that started from a place of uncertainty has been transformed through my interactions into a world rick in visions and potential. Having met so many talented artists working with generative AI to create past, present and future, I have realised the creative spirit of humanity is far from extinguished. This journey has taught me that in the face of new and scary futures, the human spirit shines brighter, transforming it into new and unique expressions. This metamorphosis of reality is akin to magic, and while generative AI is still being developed, artists have already started the work of realising potentials that could not even be imagined at the current moment. Where this technology takes us, in part lies with the technocrats who make it, but a large part lies in the hands of those who can recognise the unexpected – the artist. As we move forward, I see this tool becoming its own specialised field of art, at least in the realm of the digital and a powerful next chapter in the history of Art. Hundreds of years from today, when art history is written, generative AI may only be a small footnote, but it will open doors to whatever comes next. I am excited to see the story of human creativity move forward.

Categories
Intervention Unit 4

Artists & AI | Intervention [part 3]

Our final Meeting for the intervention where we conclude the workshop with a showcase and feedback from the participants.

All participants have consented to the public display of the videos recorded.

Categories
Expert Secondary Research Unit 4

Update | My project with Marta

My collaborative project with Marta Abba is coming to an end. Through the past few months, we have interviewed various artists that use generative AI in their creative practice. This has helped me understand the diversity of it’s application and build a language that can be used to communicate them to others looking to explore the tool. We have had experts, add comments and context to our interviews and the article has found publication space, possibly in late December. Without disclosing too much information at this time, we interviewed 7 artists, 1 cultural expert and 3 AI experts.

Artists – Themes

  • Bacchi Moriniello – AI in the present age; counterculture
  • Ilarai Merola – Future and fantasy
  • Roberto Baragnoli – Emotions in time and space
  • Helena Pink – Challenging AI bias
  • Maria Macropoulou – The past reborn
  • Farbod Mojallal-mehr – Iran through the lens of time

Experts:

  • Francesco D’Isa –  Philosopher, theoretician, and prominent digital artist
  • Eugenio Marogiu – Photographer & AI expert
  • Georgia Aiello – Media, Culture and Communication Researcher at the University deli Study di Milano
Categories
Intervention reflection Unit 4

Artists & AI | Feedback

During this past week I had a chance to collect verbal feedback from my participants. The following are the developments each participant is making.

Teya: Teya came into this workshop with no experience of AI. While initially facing trouble with learning to use gen AI, she explored different platforms till she found one that she liked. She is now working with here Dungeons and dragons team to develop character art to use for their D&D sessions.

Iris: Iris did not believe that gen AI worked well with her practice. She found the second part of the workshop useful in thinking about applications in a new way. She has found a way to marry her own project with the workshop and is developing a conceptual food menu based of people’s personality type with the use of gen AI.

David: David has had prior experience with gen AI at his workplace. He struggled with the “AI style” but has shown interest in exploring this style for new applications. His work currently is still exploring themes that work best for him.

Nagma: Nagma also came in with prior experience of using gen AI for her work. She found the workshop useful in expanding her understanding of the technology. She is interested in finding inspiration for her art through exploration of human bodies through gen AI.

Yunni: Yunni had previously played with gen AI for personal use. She has been thinking about spaces and houses she’s lived in after graduating school and is working on recreating these spaces through her memory and utilisation of gen AI. She also is exploring 3D image generation.

These projects will be displayed by me at the MA applied imagination festival along with the stories of these 5 artists. This workshop shows that with the right communication and encouragement, Visual artists can indeed find good use of AI tools. Language that is easy to understand and peer to peer sharing of experience play a critical role in this development.

Categories
Intervention reflection Unit 4

Artists & AI | Creation document

I decided to take an extra week to prepare the document to present my participants. I wanted to address some of the concerns and feedback I received, after giving myself time to reflect. I also wanted my participants to marinate in their experience and indulge in a hybrid period between discovery and creation. It was not something I had planned but found it to be useful. During this week, I received some extra feedback that showed an increase in interest by my participants. The session involving peer to peer learning seems to have gotten every one excited to progress further in this intervention.

Below is the second document sent out.

Categories
Intervention Unit 4

Artists & AI | Intervention [part 2]

On the 3rd of November 2024, I conducted the second part of my intervention. I saw the return of the 5 participants to discuss their findings and experiences over the previous 2 weeks. I started the intervention with two ice breaker style games. The first was about discussing our favourite- colour, animal, music, etc. This was to done by me to create a sense of community and bring back the energy we left with last time. I found this to be successful in creating a participatory environment. The second game was to describe a prompt in 3 words. Included in the video, this exercise helped the participants exercise their mind and ease them into the discussion after.

Following is the recorded part of this intervention. All participants have consented to recording and displaying this video for the purposes of my research on the subject.

Categories
Intervention reflection Unit 4

Ethical consideration when working with Artists & AI

Following are some key ethical considerations I have followed during this intervention:

  1. Accounting for a diverse population in participation.
  2. A respect for participants time, agency and backgrounds.
  3. Creating an environment of inclusion and acceptance.
  4. Freedom to explore without facilitator’s bias.
  5. Space for sharing feedback and concerns.
  6. Providing enough basic knowledge for those unfamiliar with the technology.
  7. Providing ample free resources to suit diverse needs.
  8. Ensuring that all participants can share openly and to the extent possible, equally.
  9. Encouraging participants to concentrate more on the process.
  10. Ensuring participants feel validated in their contributions.
  11. Following up at key moments to ensure participants are up to date.
  12. Allow the expression of ideas to flow freely and not engage in moral policing.
  13. Addressing concerns around privacy and security.
  14. Confirming consent at every stage of the intervention.
  15. Encouraging collaboration and peer to peer learning.
Categories
Intervention Unit 4

Artists & AI | Discovery document

The document prepared to give a brief overview to participants and provide them with free resources available online.

Categories
Intervention Unit 4

Artists & AI | Intervention [part 1]

As proposed, I initiated a 3 part intervention that would take place over the course of 4 weeks.

Following is the first session, held on the 20th of October 2024 which saw the participation of 5 unique creatives.

All participants have consented to recording and displaying this video for the purposes of my research on the subject.

Categories
reflection Secondary Research Unit 4

Reflecting on my Goals | Artists & AI

Originally written on 13th Oct. 2024

As the year draws to a close and a chill enters the air, I sit down with some hard questions about the goals I hope to achieve with my project. The name, ‘serial experiment no.3’ is symbolic of my third iteration in life. My first experiment was my BA when I pursued fashion design and this was almost 15 years ago. My second experiment was when I decided to pursue my own creator business in India and my MA here at CSM is my third. As the end of my MA gets closer, I wanted to reflect on the impact I’d like to make. My research into Artists and AI has always been to look at the cultural impact of the technology. When envisioning the end use of generative neural netrwork technology as a commercial tool (as it has been intended by its makers) we can see it’s use by companies in the not so far future. As my research as indicated, this is not a magic box and requires human input and expertise to use effectively. Who will be sitting at this system when it is widely adopted? It will probably be an artist or designer. Companies shifting someone from accounting or development to this space is highly unlikely. I spoke to an employee of the company Acer and they confirmed that training has been extended to this who already fulfil creative roles in marketing. Upon application, it is still an artists or designer, or content writer who is expected to fulfil this role. This technology has not replaced the need of such expertise in creative segments of corporations. 

When the end user continues to be visual artists, it is more important than ever that they explore the technology and have a say in its future direction. As stakeholders, the voice of the creative community has largely been overshadowed by those of developers and governments. My goal is to highlight the importance of including creative voices moving forward. The casual user of text-to-image or image-to-video are also people who enjoy the creative aspect of the technology. Many casual users have not been artists before, but with this new tool have become one. What I have noticed through the many interviews I have conducted, is that these artists have something to say. There is a niche to their approach towards generative technology. What is art if not that? What is an artists if not someone who engages in it? The aim of my project thus, is to demystify parts of this discourse and encourage artists to engage in the wider conversation. As primary stakeholders, it is important for me that that their voices are highlighted.