Signals & Stats

Smart art

By Jonathan Openshaw 05 : 05 : 2016 Jonas Lund : Digital Art : Milan

Milan – Artist Jonas Lund’s latest work uses artificial intelligence (AI) to generate commercially optimised imagery.

The Swedish designer showed the new work at the Steve Turner gallery booth during Milan’s MiArt fair
The digital works can be transformed over time, depending on how commercial the artist wants them to be

Installation view of Jonas Lund at Steve Turner, MiArt Milan. Photography courtesy of the artist and Steve Turner, Los Angeles

Growth 1 2016 by Jonas Lund at Steve Turner, MiArt Milan. Photography courtesy of the artist and Steve Turner, Los Angeles

Hype Cycle 2016 by Jonas Lund at Steve Turner, MiArt Milan. Photography courtesy of the artist and Steve Turner, Los Angeles

Artificial neutral networks (ANN) are used in computing to mimic the cognitive capabilities of the brain. For his latest artwork, New Now, Jonas Lund has created a triptych of digital paintings that can be transformed to become more commercial, conceptual or decorative, depending on input.

Lund trained an ANN to ‘paint’ by using 222 of his previous artworks, which he scanned in high resolution with added data about the price they commanded, speed of sale and other commercial variables. This enabled the ANN to generate an optimised artwork based on data points, and poses a question about what makes good art.

The New Now triptych is more of a conceptual piece than a practical answer to this question, however, as Lund only used 222 images compared to Google’s Deep Dream AI database of 14m, but it is still a striking example of how technology is influencing our creative industries.

The Big Picture

Artists and designers are increasingly turning to data in their work. For another example of the impact of AI on human creativity, see our Big Idea interview with M&C Saatchi’s chief innovation officer Dave Cox on its smart billboards.