The Institute of Fine Arts presents Topics in Time-based Media Art Conservation. Christiane Paul will address the topic “AI Art Histories: From Concepts to Conservation”.
In-Person and Virtual Lecture*
Advance registration is required
Abstract
Over its more than fifty year-long history, AI art has evolved along with technological approaches, from the early symbolic phase to the current statistical one of artificial neural networks. The talk traces the historical trajectory of AI art, connecting the underlying technologies to concepts, aesthetics, and conservation challenges. Expert systems, generative adversarial networks (GANs), generative pre-trained transformers (GPTs), and text-to-image models are tied to different creative practices and expressions, which in turn require specific methods of preservation. Recent AI technologies rely on classification, standardization, and optimization, using trillions of existing images harvested by corporations and operating within an echo chamber. Through the lens of artistic practice, the talk explores AI image production and its relationship to data models and materialities.
Christiane Paul is Curator of Digital Art at the Whitney Museum of American Art and Professor Emerita at The New School. She is the recipient of 2023 MediaArtHistories International Award and the Thoma Foundation’s 2016 Arts Writing Award in Digital Art. Her books are Digital Art (4th ed., 2023); A Companion to Digital Art (Blackwell-Wiley, 2016); Context Providers – Conditions of Meaning in Media Arts (Intellect, 2011; Chinese edition, 2012); and New Media in the White Cube and Beyond (UC Press, 2008). At the Whitney Museum she curated exhibitions including Harold Cohen: AARON (2024), Refigured (2023), and Programmed: Rules, Codes, and Choreographies in Art 1965 – 2018 (2018/19) and is responsible for artport, the museum’s portal to Internet art. Other curatorial work includes Chain Reaction (feralfile.com, 2023), DiMoDA 4.0 Dis/Location (traveling show, 2021-2023), and The Question of Intelligence (Kellen Gallery, The New School, NYC, 2020).
*The program will be presented onsite at the James B. Duke House and live-streamed. Please use the link below to access the live broadcast of the event.
The Conservation Center’s Topics in Time-Based Media Art Conservation lecture series is generously supported by the Mellon Foundation. The series is organized by Christine Frohnert. A video of each lecture is archived and available after the event in the Institute’s video archive.