[ISEA2022] Paper: Raivo Kelomees — AI Art and the “Transparent Author”

Abstract

Short paper, theme: Humans and NonHumans: Humans, machines and creativity
Venue: CCCB, date: June 15

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence Art, Surrealist Techniques, Transparency of the Author, Interactive Art, Linear Concept Transfer, Closed-loop Concept Transfer

How elements of AI could be seen in previous forms of artistic practice.

Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies seem novel in an artistic context yet, by exploring certain proposed new terms, I aim to demonstrate that the practice of ‘relinquishment’ of creative activity has its roots in art history. The following questions will be addressed in the paper: can such a ‘relinquishment-technique’ be considered a universal mechanism for artistic inspiration? Can we find something similar in surrealistic techniques? Is the author disappearing or becoming ‘transparent’ when abandonment of creative activity occurs? Does AI-based art assume the transparency of the author and is it possible that artworks can be created by other artworks? The terms ‘linear’, ‘circular’ and ‘closed-loop’ concept transfer will be analysed with regard to interactive artworks.

  • Raivo Kelomees, PhD (art history), is an artist, critic and new media researcher. He studied psychology, art history and design in Tartu University and the Academy of Arts in Tallinn (both Estonia). He is senior researcher at the Fine Arts Faculty at the Estonian Academy of Arts and professor at the Pallas University of Applied Sciences. Kelomees is author of Surrealism (Kunst Publishers, 1993) and article collections Screen as a Membrane (Tartu Art College proceedings, 2007) and Social Games in Art Space (EAA, 2013). His doctoral thesis is Postmateriality in Art. Indeterministic Art Practices and Non-Material Art (Dissertationes Academiae Artium Estoniae 3, 2009). Together with Chris Hales he edited the collection of articles Constructing Narrative in Interactive Documentaries (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2014). http://www.kelomees.net