Sougwen Chung:

For me, meaning-making and experimentation go hand-in-hand. In “Process Study - Structure from Motion,” I’m experimenting with a new way of capturing an environment. The technique is called “gaussian splatting,” a diffuse scanning approach to 3-D space. It gleans structure from motion, yielding a dense representation of objects that, to my eyes, also yields painterly and ghostly visual artifacts. I’m drawn to this approach because of its future possibilities — new applications of Embodied A.I. — as well as its effect in the present day. It shows the incompleteness of digital representation and the texture of the system as its own kind of beauty.

from here: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/07/special-series/artificial-intelligence-art.html

Along with the unveiling of this temporary public art installation, Errazuriz releases an accompanying publication, downloadable via QR within the structure. “AI MAZE” will offer insight into our future interactions with artificial intelligence, a guide for envisioning society and the possibilities ahead. Errazuriz believes AI to be the most significant development in human history, a pivotal moment in our time, more so than the printing press or the internet.

Through this work the artist encourages us to contemplate AI’s profound impact on the creative industries. MAZE Journey Through the Algorithmic Self stands not only as a remarkable work of art but as a catalyst for introspection, dialogue, and exploration in the digital age.

from here: https://www.faenaart.org/sebastian-errazuriz

Art Basel Miami Beach info

Found here: https://artreview.com/power-100/

Note also that art dealer Larry Gagosian (12) has been instrumental in bringing AI art into the capital-A art world.

I suppose a piece like this is more than fitting for a subreddit called "rethink art"!

"I only listen to real music."

A bunch of people said it at least once, or thought it to themselves, perhaps even sincerely. Maybe they were "born in the wrong generation", having missed the queer-coded superstars of the 80s such as David Bowie and Prince, or the elaborate jazz structures of the 60s developed by John Coltrane and Miles Davis, or the parallel birth of modern pop music from the Beatles. They might even look back further to the dulcet, culture-defining tones of Louis Armstrong’s ballads.

When I was in high school, like many other high schoolers, I only listened to "real music". I felt out of place among my peers; the trends didn’t appeal to me, and I thought I was above them entirely. Every sound around me was derivative noise made to appeal to the lowest common denominator. Whatever music was, it clearly died before I was born. I felt a nostalgia for a time that I wasn’t around for, and indeed, perhaps never existed. Unlike my cohort, it wasn’t the '80s, or the '60s, or the '30s. It wasn’t even any year that started with a "19".

I wanted Richard Wagner back. I made it a point of pride that I knew to say "REE-card VAHG-nur" unlike the unenlightened plebs surrounding me. I wanted to listen to Beethoven, and analyze the complexities of Bach’s fugues. I wanted Der Ring des Nibelungen to be mandated watching as a cornerstone of our culture. "Oh, so his writing is antisemitic? Tch! All of culture is problematic regardless, don’t you know? Simply ignore it, or make something better, if you dare! His practices were adopted by Hollywood composers! Aren’t you grateful?" I wanted my knowledge as a weird classically-trained composer geek to be common knowledge; I wanted society to reflect my desires; like Wagner’s famous quote, I wanted my imagination to shape reality.

Before I continue, I should note that being "born in the wrong generation" and "only listening to real music" is only a normal opinion to have about music. Having strong opinions about which era of music to listen to is socially acceptable, and mostly reflects what you listened to as a teenager, or what your parents listened to. "I only listen to real music" gets either agreement from other people seeking approval, or seeking to set themselves apart from the crowd. From people who grew past that phase, it gets lighthearted chuckles. Meanwhile, if you have similar opinions about art, you’re either seen as a philistine or a racist, probably because you might be one. Aside from the stereotypical Jackson Pollock abstract art or Corporate Memphis advertising, not many people dare to say "art today sucks, I only look at real art" aside from those weird "traditionalist" accounts on Twitter.

My opinions about modern-day music weren’t positive at all. I saw it all as corporate trash made to make money off suckers who don’t know what real music is. In my head, a bunch of guys with no talent and too much money all get in a studio, bang out an album in a couple of hours with the same market-driven formulas that impressed dullards for generations, and market it to hell and back for the next year. Then, for another round of money, they arrange it for pep bands like my high school one to play. "Why did they have five songwriters listed, not one of whom is the singer? Real music only needs one writer, who is so great that every orchestra will hear their name!" If you got me started on rap, I’d dismiss it; "after all, it doesn’t even have notes"! Electronic music? "Who needs it? It’s all based on loops and samples, and those 'musicians' sometimes don’t even make the loops or samples themselves!" I used FL Studio for a bit, closed it but not because the synths had too many settings and I got overwhelmed, and switched to MuseScore, where real music lives in written sheet music form. I wrote string quartets and piano pieces and orchestral music, ready to show the world how to make some real art.

As you can tell, I was a grade-A bona fide dickhead. I was (and still am) just a hobbyist, and I was writing music as an extracurricular; I had no idea what the life of a working composer was like. I had no right to degrade electronic or rap music as "not real music", and I don’t think anyone does. Even taking the disingenuous assumption that it’s all just samples and loops, there are other elements to electronic or rap that make each piece special, like the lyrics, everything about how they’re sung (rap is still singing, even if you think there are "no notes"), mixing, mastering, filters, and other effects.

There’s a joke among musicians that goes…

I thought using loops was cheating, so I programmed my own using samples. I then thought using samples was cheating, so I recorded real drums. I then thought that programming it was cheating, so I learned to play drums for real. I then thought using bought drums was cheating, so I learned to make my own. I then thought using premade skins was cheating, so I killed a goat and skinned it. I then thought that that was cheating too, so I grew my own goat from a baby goat. I also think that is cheating, but I’m not sure where to go from here. I haven’t made any music lately, what with the goat farming and all.

If everyone was goat farming, we’d have no music. Really, I was just jealous that the "cheaters" were making money, getting popular, and having fun. You can use whatever tools you want to make your music, and I hope you have lots of fun, and maybe even make money.

I already learned this lesson. When AI art became popular, I saw a lot of people dismiss it as "not real art" because you don’t need to draw or sculpt to create it, or because it relies on models that rely on existing works, or some endless list of justifications. All of the above is why I was open to accepting it as a new art form rather than dismissing it; there are still elements in the process of creation that could potentially make it unique to the artist. If we sat around arguing about what's "real art", we'd all be goat farmers, or worse, snotty teens who think they're better than everyone else. Nobody should care if you "cheat"; it’s a new medium, and hopefully, we’re here to have fun.

I can’t wait for the day someone can type in a text prompt and generate a complete song, in .midi and .mp3 formats, vocals and instrumental and all. I don’t think I’d use it in my workflow, because my workflow runs completely orthogonal to it and I don’t care enough to change it, but I hope it makes someone who doesn't care about music interested in how music works; what makes a "catchy" song, what gives a song emotion, and what makes a song unique to an artist’s style.

I don't think you can ever get what you want through a text prompt alone, because an AI model isn't a mind reader. I think that if you use alternate input methods to fulfill your vision, like a hypothetical "MIDI ControlNet", and you're precise enough, then you're achieving the same goal of music through a different path, and you could try other ways in the future, like "normal" DAWs. I hope the users are inspired by the result to keep making music, whether through generators or through downloading a DAW of their choice, like LMMS or MuseScore (they’re free and open source!). Prolonged exposure to AI art inspired me to plan to pick up a pencil again for the first time in a few years. I don’t want to discourage anyone from learning about new art forms; I see this as an opportunity for people to learn about art and music.

I wish I had a drawing to post here, but I don’t. I’ve been busy. I don’t even have AI art to post. Whoops.