Artist’s note

Although I haven’t (as of yet anyway) designed any sculptures using AI, I have admittedly played around with image creators to see what kind of sculptures AI would produce given certain prompts (I even, somewhat immodestly, asked it to create a sculpture in the style of ‘Dirk Koolmees’ which was a rather funny but also disillusioning experience).

Otherwise the results looked really quite interesting I must say. Definitely inspirational. Not always feasible designs given that the images created are (for now?) 2D projections that don't necessarily translate into 3D objects that can realistically be made, but often rather resemble impossible figures a la Escher. How long before AI can create 3D designs that are immediately 3D printable I wonder as I am writing this. A naive question: one quick internet search later I realize, once again and certainly not for the last time either, that reality has already surpassed me. The software to turn a 2D image into a 3D printable figure already exists as it turns out. So in the near future I might not be sweating for weeks anymore - inhaling sawdust, getting blisters, cuts, splinters and calluses - but feed some text prompts into a machine, go to sleep and wake up to yet another masterpiece. Limitations to size and material will eventually be overcome with larger 3D laser cutters that can work with near perfect precision, even when imprecision is desired to add a human touch. Hey presto!

Will it be The End of Art As We Know It and/or The Beginning of Art As We Don’t Know It? Artistry may eventually end up being reduced to coming up with some good prompts (until we can outsource that to an app as well and then why not call it a day: what’s the point in that case, after all?).

Maybe not though. The invention of the digital synthesizer did not do away with the analog guitar (as some of my friends predicted in the late eighties). Streaming music did not do away with the market for vinyl. Kodak film has been picking up in popularity in recent years. People still want something that is ... real, I guess. I hope anyway. Something that reminds you of the process, the effort, the struggle, not just the accomplishment on its own. Real experiences that remind us of our humanity, our own limitations, faults but also our strengths. Having sex, or visiting Machu Picchu, by virtual reality is really not the same as actually doing it, going there and experiencing getting out of breath and reaching the zenith. I think anyway.

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe viewing the world entirely through a screen, virtually visiting the Great Wall of China, binge watching Netflix and looking at art created by an algorithm, triggers the same dopamine synapses as the ‘real’ thing, releasing a temporary jolt of pleasure, surprise, astonishment albeit with an insatiable desire for the next trigger. What’s the distinction between real and fake, or deep fake for that matter anyway? It’s all in the mind after all. Biochemistry sits at the bottom of it all.

Do I care? Yes, very much so, for more reasons than mentioned above, including the mental health of the next generation, and no, honestly, not really. I’ll happily sweat and slave chopping and filing away at a piece of wood in my shed, also a form of escapism after all. Escaping from many things, more things than I wish to admit here, but definitely also an escape from digital media, which inevitably takes up so much of my own time. Yes, I am also one of the injured, as the Throbbing Gristle song goes.