Art Talks

We spoke to artist, researcher and pioneer in the field of human-machine collaboration Sougwen Chung to discuss the inspiration behind their new work, the messages they hope to convey, and how they feel art is bridging the gap between person-to-person and person-to-machine communication.

Host: What inspired the concept and the themes around this body of work?

Sougwen: The body of work has really been an ongoing investigation for the past 10 years that I've been making into human and machine collaboration, really exploring the human body, the evolution of the human hand through working with and building different technologies, and what that can mean for practices like painting, like choreography, like programming. So it's been a really beautiful journey of navigating the machine ‘other’ and relating to technology in the way that I do.

Host: Your work often explores the person-to-person and the person-to-machine sense of communication. How do you feel as if art is bridging this gap? 

Sougwen: You know, I find art practice and especially art that engages with technology, an exploratory and critical way to be so vital to how we think about creative expression these days. I think when you incorporate different technologies, in some ways you're challenging what came before. You're hybridising something, you're making it your own.

And I think we're in a space where all our old gods and masters are dead. I think it's time to catalyse the new in a way that respects tradition, that respects the roots of where you came from, but also trying to find new solutions, but also new questions to some of the very important existential questions that we have today.

We spoke to Refik Anadol and Chief Nixiwaka Yawanawa ahead of the unveiling of their Web3 collaboration - Winds of Yawanawa - at Scorpios Mykonos. We discuss the importance of cultural exchange, the ethical use of AI in art, and the significant impact of their partnership on the Yawanawa community.

Host: So how long has this collaboration been in the works? 

Refik: When we met in the forest, in the sacred village, we just said that we have to work.

The artwork you are seeing here is literally .. I saw the vision in the river and next to the village. And we had this special boat in the river after the ceremonies. And that's where we were talking about this big screen in the forest, dreaming of all the young Yawanawa artists, like, you know, paintings, the wind, like how the wind is here, the wind is very powerful in the rainforest, the rain, the temperature. 

So I thought about what happens if you imagine the future of art that takes this data from the weather, takes beautiful cultural images, using AI in between to do something meaningful and purposeful.

Host: How did you use AI to enhance the entire process and create the final product? 

Refik: Yes, so we have two types of datasets here - one is in the sacred village, we were able to put a weather station that gets the wind data, temperature, humidity, rain, so now it's a live data streaming from the Amazonia to the cloud, from cloud to the computer. That's one part. 

The second, Muka and Nava, are wonderful young artists who are extremely talented by music, by their prayers, by their paintings and again, sculptures, they want to participate. So they drew 12 very unique paintings and then we took these 12 paintings, their colors, their forms, patterns, and let AI learn from this data.

We sat down with Emily Xie to discuss her journey from software engineer to renowned digital artist, her creative process blending AI with generative art, and the future of art in the digital era.

Emily: Most people who know my art know that I'm generally inspired by textiles, patterns, like I love bringing different patterns together to create these harmonious wholes. And they know that I love collage, anything textural, even if I'm reinterpreting that in a digital sense, right? So Spiral Forms continues on that exploration of mine.

A lot of my work also has these, kind of, cultural elements. For me, this symbol of a dragon is really important to my culture. I am Chinese. That's my heritage. But I didn't want to depict a dragon outright. I wanted to create the essence of that. 

Host: Do you think AI and generative art is going to be able to find a happy, sweet relationship with traditional art forms? Do you think the two worlds can coexist in harmony? 

Emily: I think they will coexist. I think right now there's a lot of institutions starting to slowly embrace digital art and also AI art in particular. I think there's a lot of controversy around it in some ways, given there's a level of anxiety around what AI can do.

But I think that there was also this level of anxiety when photography came out, for instance. And today, it's recognised as a very legitimate art form, right? But when photography first came out, people were up in arms about it because it would ‘replace the process of portraiture’ or just documenting anything.

We spoke to digital artist, founder of Techism and Cultural Leader for the World Economic Forum (WEF) Krista Kim at Art Miami 2023 to discuss career journey, her role as WEF Cultural Leader and how she sees digital art influencing and contributing to human well-being. 

Host: Can you see art being a formidable force in the development of well-being amongst individuals? 

Krista: Yes, I think that the origins of art have always been to communicate a common humanity and common experiences, and especially now we need authentic art that expresses human emotion and connection.

Host: How do you see it evolving? 

Krista: Especially in the digital realm. When you look at digital art, we're still in the nascent stage but I believe that art can actually scientifically alter our brain states and can be used as a healing mechanism. And in public, art can be used as a way to heal communities in a collective manner. Immersive experiences is the new frontier, it’s the new art form.

Host: So would you say your recognition from the WEF has allowed you to take your career in directions that you maybe couldn't have before? 

Krista: I think more of it in this lens: that I can use the platform to advocate for the use of technology in a positive way. Yes, there are amazing opportunities for me to exhibit at Davos and to gain exposure so that I can do more and more international exhibitions, but that has already been in the works before I joined the World Economic Forum. So I mean, it is a definite platform where I can educate, and it is about education and building awareness with global leaders and decision maker stakeholders.

We sat down with renowned contemporary multi-media artist Gordon Cheung to discuss his upbringing, influences from his Chinese heritage, the impact of geopolitical events on his work, and the significance of questioning histories written by victors.

We sat down with renowned French DJ Producer and AI artist Agoria to speak about his latest collection "Bohem-IA" which celebrates the creative, collaborative ethos of Scorpios and the captivating beauty of Mykonos Island.

 

We discuss Agoria's creative process, the changes in DJ culture over the past decade, the impact of digital art on society, and the pros and cons of the Metaverse and Web3.

Agoria: We travel the whole world every week and there are a few places that I really love particularly. So it's no bulls**t Scorpios is one or maybe my favorite club in the world. 

I can feel the spirit of this freedom and all together make a good party, a good place. And then we create a good collective with a nice philosophy. This is my heaven here. 

So there was no question for me of how I should think about the piece here, what I should do as a collection. And this thematic of Bohemians, of modern Bohemians was kind of natural.

So I thought, what modern Bohemians want to do nowadays is preserve an ecosystem. And obviously showing what this ecosystem is, the beauty of it, merging this with my way of working, BioGen Art and AI, and you know, there was no question.

Agoria: You can be exactly who you want in the metaverse. Whereas by day it is more difficult. In the metaverse you can really shape the character, the person, and you can also develop many things that you would like to achieve in your physical life.

I think the metaverse is totally real. It's not virtual. 

Ivona is an award-winning generative A.I artist. Jean Claude is one of the hottest names in Dance Music and a Scorpios Mykonos resident DJ at their legendary Sunday night parties.

 

We discuss their collaborative works - Island Illusions: Aegean Echoes and Lost in Meltemi Winds, the role of AI in art and music, the nuances of genre blending in music, and the universal need for human touch in creative endeavors.

Host: Is this the first time you've ever worked on a collaboration like this specifically?

Ivona: So I actually had a few audio visual collaborations already. I think that it's absolutely amazing how adding sound to visual and creating a sound like yours [Jean Claude] elevates the narrative. And this is what I really love about creating, working on pieces that have two different mediums within them, that you then happen to have not just one story but so much more, so many more emotions that happen with it, with experiencing the work.

Host: Let's talk a bit about the public discourse around AI. There's a lot of concerned conversation between people about how they're seeing it be like the beginning of social apocalypse. Would you say for your experience with it so far, does it inspire you or have you ever felt threatened by it?

Ivona: Yeah so essentially a lot of artists are threatened by AI, and when you're a digital artist using Photoshop or other tools and suddenly you see that other people are able to create something similar in seconds, you're like ‘am I going to be jobless?’

But I absolutely agree with what Jean Claude was just saying that it's actually all about the soul. And for arts, it's all about the story, about the messages you're trying to tell. So this is the human element that needs to be there, for the work to be meaningful in a way. 

We sat down with Dutch contemporary artist Joseph Klibansky at Art Miami 2023 to discuss his career journey so far, his Dutch roots and influence on his practice, and his love for creating highly reflective monumental sculptures.