Art & AI
This section explores the dynamic intersection of artificial intelligence and artistic creation, where technology meets human creativity. This project investigates the transformative potential of AI in the arts, questioning whether it serves merely as a tool or heralds a new era of artistic expression. By examining the aesthetic, conceptual, and ethical dimensions of AI, this section highlights how these emerging technologies are reshaping the boundaries of what art can be.
From collaborative installations and experimental videos to academic research and public exhibitions, "Art & AI" presents a diverse array of projects that address the implications of AI for contemporary art. These projects delve into themes such as digital entropy, the relationship between art and technology, and the evolving role of the artist in the digital age. The works featured here invite viewers to engage with AI not only as a technical phenomenon but also as a profound influence on our cultural and artistic landscapes.
As AI continues to integrate into both the artistic and scholarly realms, this section contributes to the ongoing dialogue about the future of art in an increasingly digitized world. Through partnerships with fellow artists, researchers, and institutions, "Art & AI" aims to push the boundaries of creative expression, exploring how technology can both challenge and enhance our understanding of art and its role in society.
Current Research
AI and artists' working methods
This research is part of a broader body of work on art and new technologies. It explores how image-making and the practice of artists are evolving in the age of artificial intelligence. The question arises as to whether AI imposes a change in the way artists work: what changes, why, and how they use or repurpose existing tools. This exploration is driven not by fascination or fear of AI, but by a desire to understand it better. The work focuses on the transition from text to image within the context of AI, connected to a conceptual artistic tradition. It examines the evolution of art, not in isolation, but as an integral part of societal evolution. Art must be continually redefined in each historical period, a collective process involving artists, critics, theorists, galleries, and other stakeholders.
Current AI platforms often generate prefabricated aesthetics. However, this research considers AI not only as a production tool but also as a potential conceptual vehicle. It questions the role of AI in artistic creation: is it merely a gadget, or a revolutionary tool? This research could likely be part of a Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches (HDR), thereby consolidating a broader reflection on art and new technologies.
Could AI become the foundation of a new form of conceptual art, where the machine participates in idea generation and imposes a visual ideology? This question, crucial for the future of artistic creation, is at the heart of this research. While it is too early to determine whether AI represents a true revolution, it is not too early to begin exploring and understanding its potential in contemporary art.
Art and Technologies
Exhibition Coder le Monde Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2018
Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
15 June - 27 August 2018
Curators: Frédéric Migayrou, associate director of the Musée national d'art moderne. Associate curator: Camille Lenglois
The exhibition "Coder le Monde" at the Centre Pompidou was an ambitious exploration of the intersections between art, technology, and digital culture. Organized in 2018, this exhibition traced the evolution of computer code and its growing role in contemporary artistic creation. Addressing various themes ranging from music to dance, architecture, and performance, the exhibition highlighted how the language of code increasingly shapes our visual, auditory, and material world.
"Coder le Monde" was structured around several major themes, each exploring a specific aspect of the relationship between code and creation. The works presented illustrated how contemporary artists engage with code not only as a tool but also as a language and form of expression in its own right. The exhibition offered a glimpse into innovative works that challenge the boundaries between human and machine, analog and digital, reality and virtuality.
Artwork: Vice Boxes
J. Velasco, J. Toulze and O. Kisseleva
"Vice Boxes" is a collaborative multimedia installation presented as part of the "Coder le Monde" exhibition. The work consists of several transparent cubes, each containing a QR code. These cubes, resembling small pieces of jewelry, encapsulate the QR codes as if they were the soul of the piece. Through scanning these codes, viewers are transported to another universe where a short video illustrates the vice contained within the cube.
- Box 1, Fragility: Susceptibility, Frivolity, Pride, Enclosing.
- Box 2, Pleasures and Desires: Lust, Sensuousness, Abulia, Hankering
- Box 3, Run: Unrest, Obtundation, Loquacity, Voyeurism, Restriction, Running, Frenzy
Symposium Art & Science, regards croisés
Université de Liège, Belgium
October 25-27, 2017
Session Chair: J.M. Lévy-Leblond, Université de Nice-Sophia Antipolis, France
La méthode scientifique dans la création plastique : une nouvelle vision de l'art
The symposium "Art & Science, regards croisés" aimed to explore the complex and evolving relationship between art and science, focusing on how scientific advancements have influenced artistic practices from the Renaissance to the present day. The event brought together perspectives from various disciplines, including art, science, history, and philosophy, to examine the mutual interactions between these fields.
Within this interdisciplinary framework, the presentation titled “La méthode scientifique dans la création plastique : une nouvelle vision de l'art” by Julio Velasco, explored the potential for adopting scientific methodologies in artistic creation. The presentation challenged the conventional dualistic view that positions science and art as inherently separate or even oppositional domains—science being driven by reason and art by intuition and emotion. This dualistic perspective, which has long dominated both popular and academic discourse, often limits the perceived scope of interaction between these two fields. The presentation argued that the application of scientific methods in art—beyond merely borrowing results from scientific research—can transform artistic practice into a rational and collective endeavor. This approach has the potential to break away from the traditional view of art as an irrational, individualistic, and elitist activity, and instead, position it as an accessible and socially engaged process. Examples were provided, such as the artistic research of Esther Shalev-Gerz, to illustrate how the use of scientific methods can open up new avenues for artistic expression and reception. These methods involve structured forms of work, learning, evolution, and critical judgment, making art a process that can be developed and appropriated by a wider audience. By integrating these scientific approaches, the presentation highlighted the possibility of redefining art in a way that aligns it more closely with societal and collective values, moving beyond the narrow confines of the "vocational" model of art that has dominated since the Romantic period.
Master
Moving Images and the Challenge of Beauty
During my Master's degree in Art and Media at the University of Paris 1, Panthéon Sorbonne, 2010, I explored the concept of beauty in moving images. The thesis delves into the notion that there are multiple types of beauty, each corresponding to a specific form of art. I focused particularly on two concepts: beauty as appearance and beauty as truth. My goal was to analyze these two forms, their opposition, and the types of art associated with each.
Beauty as Appearance: This form of beauty is related to art that aims to distract and entertain, offering an escape from the monotony and ennui of everyday life, particularly in affluent societies. This art form can be seen as a spectacle, designed to momentarily lift us away from the mundane realities of middle-class existence in wealthy countries. Art that embodies beauty as appearance often seeks to create a visual spectacle or entertainment, offering a diversion rather than a deep engagement with reality.
Beauty as Truth: In contrast, beauty as truth is a concept deeply rooted in philosophical thought. It posits that true beauty reveals the profound nature of beings, liberated from distortions imposed by fear, habit, or flawed perception. Art aligned with this concept strives to engage deeply with reality, demanding a rigorous understanding and analysis of the world. This form of art challenges the viewer to refine their perception and judgment, offering not just representation but a sharpened insight into the essence of life.
This exploration of beauty in its various forms has had a lasting impact on my subsequent work and research, particularly in the context of new media and artificial intelligence. The dichotomy between beauty as appearance and beauty as truth continues to inform my approach to the intersection of art, technology, and society.
This research was followed by a video installation Qu'il fait beau demain, for 3 screens, presented in the Réflexions Numériques exhibition at Galerie Michel Journiac in Paris, 2010 and at the festival Ars Electronica, Linz, 2011.
Video-montage of the installation on Vimeo
Experimental Videos
The experimental videos Mode d'Emploi (2010) and Entropies Numériques (2009) represent two distinct yet complementary explorations of the possibilities offered by technology in artistic creation. Through these works, Julio Velasco utilizes and repurposes technological means to explore concepts such as digital entropy, perception of time, and the mechanisms of memory, while pushing the boundaries of the video medium.
Mode d'Emploi (2010)
This is a court experimental video created in 2010. The work pays homage to the pioneers of experimental video by revisiting audio elements from their seminal piece "The Medium is the Medium" (1969), where artists were invited by American television to use the medium for artistic creation. By reusing these audio elements, Mode d'Emploi also incorporates contemporary footage from today's television, as well as images from Julio Velasco's own films. The work explores the complex relationships between art, technology, and communication, echoing the questions raised by the artists of the 1960s about the impact of media on artistic creation.
By juxtaposing these various visual and auditory materials, Mode d'Emploi offers a reflection on the evolution of media and technology while honoring the critical and exploratory spirit of the founders of experimental video. The work thus stands at the intersection of historical homage and contemporary creation, questioning the continuity and disruption in the use of audiovisual media in art.
Shown at the Galerie 59, Paris, 2010
Watch the video on Vimeo.
Entropies Numériques (2009)
In this video, presented at the prestigious Ars Electronica Festival 2009 in Linz, the concept of entropy—a notion derived from the second law of thermodynamics—is explored within the digital realm. The second law of thermodynamics, which can be difficult to grasp without a background in physics, suggests that it is easier to lose energy than to gain it. Robert Smithson famously illustrated this idea by describing how sand mixed by a child running clockwise between two sandpits becomes increasingly mixed when the child runs in reverse, rather than returning to its original state. Similarly, Smithson noted that while a film shown in reverse might seem to undo time, it too is subject to entropy and will eventually degrade to the point of being unwatchable.
Entropies Numériques extends this concept to the digital world, where entropy also applies, though it is less apparent. Each time an image is copied, some information is lost, and after numerous copies, the image becomes unreadable. This video aims to visually demonstrate both this issue and Smithson’s ideas about entropy, providing a compelling exploration of the degradation of digital information over time.
Shown on Ars Electronica Festival, Linz, Austria, 2009
Watch the video on Vimeo.