Art in the age of AI was the topic of ANOTHER Magazine. Known internationally for their groundbreaking work in music, machine learning, and software development, Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst were the perfect conversation partners for a talk with the curators of the Serpentine Galleries, Hans Ulrich Obrist and Eva Jäger. And yes, Holly is the cover star of the issue, with hair by Kosuke IKEUCHI c/o SHOTVIEW ARTISTS MGMT.
Reason for the talk was the exhibition by the duo titled ‘The Call - New Rituals for Collaboration with AI’ currently on display at London’s Serpentine Galleries : “Berlin-based artists Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst approach AI as a coordination and communication technology, much like singing has been for millennia. Historically, singing techniques like call and response have been rituals for communication, leading us to build spaces and structures for gathering, processing, transmitting information, and creating meaning in social and civic life. Similar to a choir, where many individual voices blend into a collective, the artists propose that AI can further augment the transformation from the individual to the collective.
‘The Call’ is focused on developing new protocols and materials for the creation of choral AI models. To train the AI, Herndon and Dryhurst have composed a songbook of hymns, singing exercises, and a recording protocol, traveling with the Serpentine Arts Technologies team to record fifteen community choirs across the UK. The choristers are now part of a data trust experiment that enables the distribution of power between the contributors to the training data and those who use the models,” we learn from Serpentine Galleries.
Just last year, Herndon and Dryhust were named ‘100 most influential voices in AI’ by TIME Magazine and have generously open-sourced their work, publishing much of their studio research.
In the podcast titled ‘Interdependence’, the two Berliners by residency host talks again and again about exciting topics. And then, of course, they have their Spawning platform, a virtual space operated by artists that explores how we interact with artificial intelligence, while examining each instance of data usage from an ethical perspective.
The Serpentine Galleries are two contemporary art galleries in Kensington Gardens, Westminster, Greater London, and were recently rebranded to simply ‘Serpentine’. Only a five-minute walking distance apart, the galleries are connected by a bridge over Serpentine Lake. The exhibitions held there, the architecture as well as the educational and public programs offered attract up to 1.2 million visitors each year. Admission to both galleries is free of charge. Bettina Korek is CEO, and Hans Ulrich Obrist is Artistic Director.
The Call' is an exhibition project curated by Eva Jäger, Arts Technologies Curator and Creative AI Lead, in collaboration with Ruth Waters, Arts Technologies Producer.
GoSee : serpentinegalleries.org & anothermag.com & spawning.ai
CREDITS
Artist Holly Herndon & Mat Dryhurst
Post Production A New Plane
Hair Kosuke Ikeuchi c/o SHOTVIEW ARTISTS MANAGEMENT
Make-up Kenny Campbell
FASHION DIRECTOR Katie Shillingford
About SHOTVIEW ARTISTS MANAGEMENT
SHOTVIEW represents exclusive a diverse group of image makers working in a range of creative disciplines with offices in Berlin, Paris, Vienna operating global representing over 35 photographers, directors, stylists, hair and make-up artists, creative directors. Founded in 2002 — our Drive is the passion of Photography, documentary, Film, Fashion, lifestyle, photojournalism, Styling and always inspiring People and Clients being able to connect Clients with the perfect unique Artists that fits your creative goals and brief in different fields.
With nearly two decades to supporting Artists, our Agency is more than a traditional photography Artists agency, we grow as a creative network representing strong individual creatives realizing incredible content, images and films. Our goal is to create a language that connects everyone, no matter where they come from, especially through art and imagery so to speak, to harness diversity as an asset and see it as a gift that keeps on giving. We offer a full service including artists representation, clients consultancy, casting, production, events and more.
GoSee : shotview.com