Concerns About Artificial Intelligence in the Context of Contemporary Art
21.03.2024 / 4pm
The aim of Łukasz’s presentation is to outline the main motives on current narratives that predict the decline of art and visual culture resulting from the development of artificial intelligence. Anxiety about the emergence of AI, however, is nothing new. Over the past century, technological innovations have caused concerns every few decades.
In the 1950s, the widespread use of radio and television sparked debates on their detrimental effects to society. In the early 1980s, Vilém Flusser expressed concerns about a growing dependency on image-producing digital technology and how it affects us even though we barely understand how it works. In 2007, Andrew Keen wrote a critique of Web 2.0, arguing that it diminishes the value of professional work by promoting amateur content.
In contrast, these predictions of doom have not materialised. Can we assume, then, that the current concerns and critical viewpoints about the potential threat of AI to art-making are merely “ritualised” expression of fears towards the unknown? Perhaps these fears say more about the current state of art than about the actual threats? The presentation, drawing on the case study of “This Exhibition Does Not Exist” (Kraków, June 2023), will serve as an opportunity to reflect on current concerns artists have about AI.
Łukasz Białkowski, Ph.D (b. 1981) is an art critic, independent curator, translator and university lecturer. His academic research draws on philosophy of art and social history of media. He particularly focuses on historical narratives on creativity and cultural figures of art as well as artists relationship to evolution of the field of art production, art institutions and systems for artwork distribution. Łukasz is an assistant professor at the Department of Art Studies in the University of the National Education Commission in Kraków and a member of AICA
The lecture has been made possible with the support of the Visegrad Fund Fellowship Programme.
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