The world’s largest art exhibition for artificial intelligence
The AI art movement is rapidly accelerating. And because the very concept of AI art is at the center of one of the most contentious cultural debates in recent history, the creators driving the trend forward seem to have both nothing and everything to prove to those who seek to delegitimize the technology and its use.
Against a hostile backdrop, artists continue push the boundaries of what can be achieved with the help of civilization’s latest artistic tools. And the proliferation of these tools and the enthusiasm with which they have been adopted by millions around the world means that physical exhibitions dedicated solely to AI artworks are becoming increasingly common.
Their presence at NFT Paris this week is just one example of this, with Superchief Gallery NFT collaborating with AI art pioneer and lawyer Claire Silver on Artist x AI 000003. The exhibition is co-curated by Silver and will show works from 39 of the most innovative AI-enabled artists in the space from 2pm to 8pm on February 25th and 26th, and each work drops as a 1/1 on Foundation on February 23rd.
This gallery leads nicely into another Superchief-hosted AI art exhibit in Los Angeles on March 3 titled Deep Fake. The show bills itself as the largest collection of AI art ever. We spoke to the artist and show curator ClownVamp about the exhibition’s significance, timing and contribution to the larger conversation the world is having about AI art.
The border between real and artificial
Takes place in collaboration with AI art collective MAIF, Deep Fake’s theme leans directly into the criticism that AI artists and their works are not “real”, a motif that Claire Silver explored in her iconic collection “AI Art is Not Art”. Seventy-three pieces submitted by 62 creators in the collective will be on display during the show, held at Superchief’s gallery in downtown Los Angeles.
In a similar style to the NFT Paris exhibition, 62 of the 73 artworks will be minted at the Foundation and available for auction a day before the exhibition. The remaining 11 pieces are collaborative efforts by MAIF artists that will be released on Objkt as editions of 30 for 20 XTZ each.
ClownVamp, the show’s curator, is a well-known and respected AI art collector and artist in the space. They believe the exhibition is a chance to explicitly make the community’s voice heard and ensure that the often toxic conversation around AI art is not one-sided.
“There’s been a huge explosion of interest in AI art,” ClownVamp said while speaking to nft now. “But I think most people don’t yet fully understand what’s possible when it comes to sharing perspective with AI. These new tools have unleashed creative superpowers in a way we’ve never seen before. What happens when people from all over the world, connected to via the internet, meditating on a single topic? Deep Fake is the result of that question.”
The exhibition’s roster includes artists such as Tomeo, Prostov, Str4ngeThing, Jenni Pasanen, Anna Condo, Stephan Vasement, Nikita Blank, 0009, Richard Nadler, Ren AI, Leônidas Valdez, and many more who have put their artistic spin on the concept of constructed and perceived realities.
“Maybe these ‘fake’ tools can create some real thoughts and feelings.”
Clown vamp
ClownVamp hopes the exhibition will help underscore the idea that the inherent accessibility of AI art tools heralds an unprecedented era in the democratization of creativity in society.
“In the past, new creative tools had barriers to entry,” ClownVamp elaborated on the difference between AI art as a movement. “You needed a computer that could run Photoshop, a tablet for Procreate or a DSLR camera. With AI being done over the cloud, [something] anyone with an internet connection can access, you have a technology that will have a fundamentally different adoption curve. This show is meant to embrace that. Some of our artists have been practicing art across media for thirty years. Others are six months into seeing themselves as an artist. What matters are the stories they tell.”
Money collected from the sale of art on Objkt will be used to create the MAIF Art Fund, which aims to acquire art from new AI artists. ClownVamp also donates the curator’s fee to the fund.
Above all, the artists and community organizers behind Deep Fake aim to show how AI art tools can be an intimate and emotionally resonant channel where creativity and expression can flourish.
“So much of our culture is socially constructed meaning,” ClownVamp said of the exhibit’s theme. “AI is written off; we are afraid of deep fakes and all the negatives. [The exhibition] is meant to embrace this, to make us question where we draw these lines. The goal here was to get artists to explore these lines and to use the art world’s “fakest” tools to do so. Maybe these ‘fake’ tools can create some real thoughts and feelings.”
The show comes at a time when the AI art debate is at its most heated. With multiple lawsuits filed against companies like Stability AI, the future of these tools and the art they help produce remains an open question. For now, exhibitions like Deep Fake and Artist x AI 000003 are doing their part to remind the world that revolutionary tools and artistic traditions have always been disruptive and that history can offer the best part of wisdom in approaching them with curiosity and enthusiasm, not fear. .
