"The essence of an existent is no longer a power embedded deep inside it; it is the manifest law governing the succession of its appearances, the principle of the series." (Sartre, Jean-Paul. Being and Nothingness.)
This work uses artificial intelligence based on adversarial neural networks (GAN) to generate new infinite digital sculptures [image 2] by learning on hundreds of physical sculptures which I made specifically for the work.
In the making of the physical sculptures [image 3], aluminum sheets and cor-ten steel plates were bended, welded and combined with fabric shreds in an almost obsessive labor routine, in order to build hundreds of forms with a continuum of tensions among materials.
After the making of each physical sculpture and the acquisition of its data, each piece was destroyed in order to recycle the same materials for the next sculpture. Doing so, the materials have been more and more stressed over the transformation process.
The purpose of these physical sculptures creation process, was to provide the neural networks with enough data to absorb the patterns of the material combinations, in order to let the artificial intelligence learn the aesthetic principle of the series directly from the essence of matter and labor.
The final work consists in infinite digital sculptures, letting the AI generate new ones forever.
This project is the latest in my exploration of the problem of existence in relation to the increasingly blurred bounds that separate physical and artificial worlds.
In particular the work explores a new aesthetics in a context of augmentation of the artistic process through artificial intelligence, questioning reality through the existentialist approach of pursuing the essence of an existent no longer inside its physicality, but through the manifestation of the principle governing the succession of its infinite appearances.
The proposed installation [main image] consists in 3 video projections (or alternatively HD displays) showing constantly new AI generated digital sculptures.
The raw material used for the physical sculptures (with which the AI has been trained), is accumulated and suspended in the middle with steel cables.
The background sound of the installation is a manipulation of the noise recorded over the physical sculptures making.
The installation can be scaled and adapted according to the site specific requirements.
