On the occasion of the first Meta Eye Transcendent Image Art Festival, MC2, a new art and technology platform under Hypermedia Group, will join forces with the festival to launch the AI image pilot activity "Weaving the Unseen: Artificial Intelligence and Visual Storytelling" at 12:30 on May 19. Curated by internationally renowned artist Casey Reas and co-curated by MC2 project leader Cao Xinhao, the event was held at RE:CHARGE at Taikoo Li Qiantan in Shanghai.
Inspired by the relativistic mass-energy equation E=mc², MC2 is a research institute co-founded by ArtReview and NOWNESS, focusing on the integration of art and technology, especially in the field of artificial intelligence and the future of image production, aiming to become a center of innovation, collaboration and critical discussion in this rapidly changing field. The platform brings together native digital moving images, as well as relevant in-depth content such as news, opinion and research to provide insights into the global art and emerging technology landscape, as well as a series of exhibitions and events. As a catalyst for R&D collaboration and advancement, MC2 also collaborates with academic institutions, creative communities, and technologists to explore the possibilities of the next generation of arts and cultural production, to examine the advantages and disadvantages of these new technologies, and to explore what collaboration with agents beyond humans will bring, as well as the multiple possibilities of future human and social forms and thinking paradigms. This event is a pilot event for the brand launch, and the platform will be officially launched globally in the second half of 2024.
Mr. Shao Zhong, Chairman of Hypermedia Group, said, "'Reconstructing the future of business with art and technology' is the new strategy of Hypermedia Group, which represents the Group's expectations for the future. We live in an era of media upheaval, and we are committed to exploring and creating possibilities that have never been possible. MC2 aims to combine the world's leading art and technology forces to build an innovative content platform that integrates PGC (professionally generated content), UGC (user-generated content) and AIGC (artificial intelligence-generated content). ”
Historically, human image-making has been closely linked to the medium of the entity. With the development of technology, pigments, oils, acrylic and other materials used in traditional painting are used in photo production and printing. The emergence of media such as the screen and neon lights has brought new forms to image culture, but it has not broken the tradition in the perception and creation of images. Since the post-industrial era, human visual culture has undergone great changes brought about by computers, the Internet, algorithms and artificial intelligence, and images have gradually become independent from physical production and become "invisible images", that is, the way they are generated and the images themselves exist in an immaterial form of code. As invisible images and machine vision become more active, their functions change from traditional representation and mediation to generation, manipulation and independent operation. In the 90s of the 20th century, there was a widespread discussion about the lack of "originality" of digital images, and in recent years, with the proliferation of image use on social media and its impact on subjectivity, it has become a hot topic of discussion among cultural theorists, critics, and artists.
"Woven Unseen" will feature a series of moving image short videos and conversations that delve into the complex relationship between artificial intelligence and visual storytelling. Artificial intelligence's neural network parses datasets through its "threading computation" to deduce the cause and effect of the narrative. Humans dig into individual experiences such as emotions and memories to tease out narrative threads. The interweaving of the two and the manifestation of a formal intertextuality may give rise to a new paradigm of textual and image production.
Holly Herndon and Matt De Ryhurst, Jolene (still frame), 2022, image courtesy of the artist
This event features a selection of six pioneering short films that explore or support the theme of artificial intelligence, each challenging and pushing the boundaries of visual storytelling. Artists use different levels of artificial intelligence to experiment with new approaches: Rachel Maclean's "Duck", for example, uses deepfake technology to recreate classic images and explore modern issues of identity and authenticity; And Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst's Jolene reinterprets Dolly Parton's famous song of the same name through digital avatars, reflecting on the possibilities of AI as a creative partner. Parag S. Parag K. Mital, on the other hand, transports us to memories of the past, revealing complex emotions about migration and diaspora in algorithmically generated fluid image sequences and the whispered whispers of mothers.
Rachel McClain, "Duck" (still frame), 2024, Courtesy of the artist
Assuming that human beings are the subjects of viewing, and that the interaction between humans and images is at the core, the most essential question that arises is whether human beings are still the only participants in creation and viewing. Miao Ying's "Residual Intelligence" allows AI to learn a variety of genres and write scripts, fictionalizing a futuristic world managed by artificial intelligence, and digging deep into how technology affects our understanding and reflection of the real world.
Miao Ying, "The Twelve Villages of Taoyuan – Chapter 2: Residual Intelligence" (still frame), 2021-2022, image courtesy of the artist
Lawrence Lek's Feng Shui Master and Cao Shu's Demon Candy place the narrative in an AI-dominated post-human reality, and further lead to a broad reflection on AI creativity and future social structures. The artists demonstrated the diverse applications of AI and related technologies, from real-time simulation to deepfakes, in the creation of artistic images, as well as speculated on the potential of human-machine coexistence in fiction.
Lu Minglong, Feng Shui Master (still frame), 2017, Courtesy of the artist and Sadie Coles HQ, London
In the postmodern era, humanity seems to have entered a vast generative space, and we are forced to rethink how we should re-vision ourselves when humans are not the only agents on Earth. This perception has given rise to discussions about posthumans, and in Donna Haraway's book Apes, Cyborgs, and Women: Nature's Reinvention and Katherine Heller's How We Become Posthumans, "posthumans" are seen as technologically modified hybrid entities that can be composed of various "matter-information" combinations. By reconstructing life forms, this concept gradually blurs the boundaries between humans and animals, humans and machines, material and immaterial, real and virtual worlds, and explores whether it is possible that "human" will no longer be just a natural or biological person in the traditional sense.
Cao Shu, "Demon Candy", a combination of 3D rendering and real shooting, 4K, commissioned by X Museum Triennial, image source: The artist and X Museum
This event will invite artists and curators to have a dialogue on "Visual Culture in the AI Era" and "Posthumanism and Human-Computer Relationship", and discuss the essence of creation from the perspective of AI art practice and creation.
When non-human agents emerge and interactions transcend the traditional boundaries of human beings, the way creative research and expression is created may be transformed. This will inject new stimuli into the reconstruction of art practice, and make machine-involved art creation a key issue. The event and dialogue not only focused on the dialogue and differences between visual narratives and human narratives intervened by artificial intelligence, but also raised fundamental questions about the nature of creativity, agency and artistic cognition: can AI be regarded as a legitimate medium for artistic creation? Can it have authorship in its creation? Or how do the authorship of humans and AI overlap and transform into each other?
Parag S. K. Mittal, The Road to Barreli: Part I (still frame), 2023, Courtesy of the artist
引用来源:Trevor Paglen, 《看不见的图像：人类仍是观看的主体吗？》'Invisible Images: Your Pictures Are Looking at You', Architectural Design, (2019) ；
Wang Xiaohua, "Artificial Intelligence and Posthuman Aesthetics", Journal of Capital Normal University (Social Sciences Edition), No. 3, 2020;
Long Diyong, "Spatial Narratology", Life, Reading, New Knowledge, Joint Bookstore, 2015, "Image Narrative: Temporalization of Space", Jiangxi Social Sciences, No. 9, 2007.
This conversation explores how AI is influencing visual culture on historical, technological, and aesthetic levels. The dialogue will discuss in detail the characteristics of AI as an emerging medium, whether it is just a tool for artistic creation or whether it has given rise to entirely new creative possibilities. In addition, the forum will explore the application of AI in popular culture such as film, fashion and lifestyle, and its potential impact on mainstream aesthetic and cultural trends.
The dialogue will explore the need for post-human futures and machine-centric perspectives in contemporary art practice, and discuss how these perspectives can inspire current artistic production and social conditions. The discussion will also include new frameworks for understanding life, interaction, and social organization in the posthuman context, and the implications of these frameworks for new ecological, ethical, and social structures.
Casey Reas's software, prints, and installations have been featured in numerous solo exhibitions in the United States, Europe, and Asia. His work ranges from sketches on paper to city-scale installations, which he works alone in his studio while collaborating with architects and musicians. Rhys's work is in the collections of many private and public collections, including the Georges Pompidou Center and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Rees is a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. He holds a master's degree in media arts and sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor's degree from the University of Cincinnati's College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning. In 2001, Rhys co-founded the Processing project, an open-source programming language and environment for the visual arts, with Ben Fry.
Zhu Jiaming is the chairman of the Academic and Technical Committee of the Institute of Digital Finance of the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, and an economist. In the early 1980s, he made suggestions on a number of important issues of the national economy and was hailed as one of the "Four Gentlemen of Reform". He was also one of the main organizers and initiators of the "Moganshan Conference" in 1984. In the 1990s, Zhu Jiaming was a visiting scholar at Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Manchester. Since 2000, Zhu Jiaming has worked as an economist at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and taught at the University of Vienna. Since 2010, Zhu Jiaming has been focusing on and has pioneered research and practice in the field of digital economy and cutting-edge technology. His representative works include "A Brief Introduction to the Structure of the National Economy", "Reality and Choice", "Unbalanced Growth", "From Freedom to Monopoly: Two Thousand Years of China's Monetary Economy", "Book Conversation", "The Future Determines the Present: Blockchain, Digital Currency and Digital Economy", "Metaverse and Digital Economy", "History Can Not Be Broken", etc.
Cao Shu's creative threads are mainly 3D digital analog images, video games, and field installations, and he focuses on the complex production mechanism behind computer graphics technology, as well as the interweaving of different media, and seeks and perceives memories trapped in historical time and space through fictional writing for a specific place. He has participated in group exhibitions at the Kunsthalle Landschaft Basel, Matadero Center for Contemporary Art and Culture in Madrid, UCCA Dune, Asia Society Hong Kong Center, Tianmuli Art Museum, OCAT Shanghai, OCAT Shenzhen, Beijing Minsheng Art Museum, X Art Museum and other institutions and art museums. He has won the OCAT × KADIST 2022 Young Media Artist Award, the 2021 Shanghai Photo Fair Exposure Award, the 2nd Chengdu International Photography Week Artist Award, the 2017 BISFF Art Exploration Award, and the 2015 Shanghai Short Film Week New Narrative Award.
Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst's collaborative practice uses AI technology and virtual ecosystems to explore the unequal distribution of power. Hearn logged in for a thought-provoking and whimsical studio album that combines electronic music, ASMR, and artificial neural networks; Derehurst makes music and supports the decentralized internet. Their joint project, Holly+, is a machine learning tool that converts audio files into Herndon voices. Holly Herndon has been named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in artificial intelligence in 2023; The two have been named one of ArtReviews' 100 Most Influential People in Contemporary Art for 2023.
Lawrence Lek is a London-based artist, filmmaker and musician whose work focuses on video game engines, simulation technology and architectural design. He sees world-building as a collage art form that blends elements of material and virtual sources to develop narratives that alternate histories and possible futures. His work has been exhibited internationally, with recent solo exhibitions including: LAS Foundation, Berlin (2023); Sadie Coles HQ Gallery, London (2023); QUAD, Derby (2022-3); ZiWU the Bund, Shanghai (2022); Prague Center for Contemporary Art, Prague (2019); HEK House of Electronic Arts, Basel (2019); Ruhr City Art Association, Essen, Germany (2019); K11 Art Space, Hong Kong (2018), among others.
Rachel Maclean has presented her groundbreaking work in galleries, museums, film festivals, and television over the past decade. She works across a variety of mediums, including video, digital print, sculpture, and virtual reality (VR), producing complex and layered works that span politics, fairy tales, pop culture, contemporary media, and more. Her major solo exhibitions include Tate Britain and the National Gallery (London), Arsenal Contemporary Art (New York), KWM Art Center (Beijing) and HOME in Manchester. In 2017, McLean represented Scotland at the Venice Biennale with his film Desperate. Her work has also been exhibited in major group exhibitions at Somerset House and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Art Biennale in Bangkok, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, the Mito Art Tower in Tokyo, and the National Gallery of Scotland, among others.
Miao Ying's work takes a variety of forms, emphasizing the exploration of mainstream technology and contemporary consciousness and their impact on our daily lives, while focusing on the new political, aesthetic, and ideological aspects created when reality is presented through technology. Since 2019, her new work has focused on applying AI deep learning on game engines and collaborating with computer scientists. Her recent solo exhibitions include Edouard Malingue Gallery, Hong Kong (2023); University of Toronto Art Gallery, Toronto (2022); Art Basel, online (2021); M+ Art Museum, Hong Kong (2018); Recent group exhibitions include: Hawaii Triennial, Honolulu (2022); Museum of Modern Art, Bologna, Italy (2022); National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (2022); Castello de Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art, Turin (2020); The 12th Gwangju Biennale (2018); MoMA PS1 and K11 Art Foundation (2017); She won the 2018-2019 Porsche "China Young Artist of the Year Selection"; and will be shortlisted for the M+ Sigg Prize in 2023.
Parag S. Parag K. Mital, Ph.D. is an Indian-American artist and interdisciplinary researcher with a scientific background spanning a wide range of fields, including machine learning and deep learning, film cognition, eye tracking research, electroencephalography (EEG), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) research. His artistic practice combines generative film experiences, augmented reality illusions, and expressive control over large audiovisual corpora to explore questions of identity, memory, and the nature of perception. The balance between his science and artistic practice allows the two to reflect on each other: science drives theories, while works of art redefine the questions raised in research. His work has been published and exhibited internationally, including at the Ars Electronica Grand Prix, Walt Disney Hall, ACM Multimedia, Victoria and Albert Museum London, Science Museum London, Oberhausen Short Film Festival and the British Film Institute. He also regularly collaborates with artists and cultural institutions such as Massive Attack, Sigur Rós, David Lynch, Sphere, Google, Ess Devlin and Refik Anadol Studios, among others.
Mark Rappolt is the editor-in-chief of ArtReview magazine. In 2013, he founded his sister publication, ArtReview Asia. His articles have appeared extensively in The Times, Die Zeit, i-D and Citizen K, and include exhibition catalogues of artists such as David Cronenberg, Bourti Kyle, Wang Guangle, Yuko Mori and Liu Xiaodong. Published books include monographs on architects Greg Lynn and Frank Gehry. Recent exhibitions include Breaking the Waves (2021), a touring exhibition at chi K11 Art Museum in Shanghai and K11 MUSEA in Hong Kong; and One or Another Tiger (2022), curated in collaboration with Tom Eccles at Mathaf in Doha.
Bunny Kinney is the editorial director of the DARE Media Group and the creative director of NOWNESS, a short film platform launched by LVMH and co-owned by DARE and China Modern Media Group. In 2018, he co-launched DAZED Beauty, a digitally-driven platform and print magazine, with makeup artist Isa Maya French and publisher Jefferson Harker. Prior to that, Benny Kinney worked as a creative director at i-D and VICE. Kinney has extensive experience as a commercial video director in the fashion and beauty sector, having won the Silver Lion at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and was named to Mediaweek's 30 Under 30 list in 2016.
Long Xingru is an independent curator, writer, Berggruen scholar, and amateur radio operator whose research focuses on China's technological infrastructure, the psychogeography of technology, and astronomy. He served as an international jury member for the ISEA Electronic Arts Symposium and an international jury member for the art section of the Computer Graphics Conference SIGGRAPH ASIA. His research has been published at the Warburg Institute, the Institute for Advanced Study at the University of London, the ZKM Centre for Media Arts, and he teaches part-time at Central Saint Martins in the Department of Spatial Narrative. In 2021, she launched the project "Ports: Guizhou under the Clouds", a long-term research and curatorial project on China's technology infrastructure. Personal website: irislong.xyz
Zhu Bangjia is a curator of contemporary art, critical theory, and cultural analysis. Her recent work explores visual culture, socio-technical development, and minority politics, as well as projects, commissions, writing, and teaching. She completed her PhD in the Curatorial/Knowledge programme at Goldsmiths, University of London, and has since worked as a postdoc on art under digital and online surveillance. She has organized projects and held positions at the British Film Institute, Bergen Assembly, Roberts Center for the Arts, Sadie Coles HQ Gallery, and more. Currently, she is in charge of projects and research at the Rockbund Art Museum. Personal website: www.jonizhu.com
Huang Songhao is an artist and curator. Graduated from the School of Intermedia Art at the China Academy of Art, in 2019, he participated in the preparation of the non-profit art institution "Raiden Institute", focusing on the impact of contemporary technology on art production. In addition, he also co-founded "Intense Space", in which he often reveals the situation of the individual and the collective through the mobilization of participants' physical experiences and the setting of game mechanisms. His works have been exhibited at Power Station of Art, Ming Contemporary Art Museum, chi K11 Art Museum, Taikang Space, Goethe Open Space, Long March Space, Beijing Commune, etc.
Sugar Bandit, writer, critic, full writer member of SFWA (American Society of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers). His published works include "Odyssey", "The Man Who Saw Cetus", and "The Nameless Feast". In 2022, he published a collection of Italian novels, SPORE. More than a dozen novels have been translated into the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Spain and other countries. In addition to literary creation, it also involves different art forms such as installation and photography. He has won the 2019 Best Microfiction Award from Smokelong Quarterly Magazine, the Silver Award at the 2019 Most Loved Mystery Fiction Novel Translation Award in the United States, and the 2020 China Science Fiction Readers' Choice Award (Gravitational Award) Short Story Award. Twice selected as the best science fiction in the United States that year. "Look at Rainbow Treasure Land" won the 2021 Shanghai Literature Award for Best Novella. "Happy Days" was selected for the "Harvest" Best Novella of the Year.