The robotic arms that have learned to copy an artist’s brush strokes

Category: (Self-Study) Technology/Innovations

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As AI continues to evolve, the line between human and machine is blurring in the art world. One artist has taught a robot to copy her brush strokes so they can paint together.

D.O.U.G. is a machine created by Sougwen Chung. The artist has built and programmed this AI system to work alongside them, creating paintings together. Over the years, it has learned to mimic Chung’s brush strokes. It’s an exploration of how humans and machines can collaborate.

Simonida Pavicevic is co-founder and curator of HOFA Gallery (House of Fine Arts) which represents Chung. She says you can’t separate the artist from her machines.

“So Sougwen managed to do something very impressive where she merges the robots with her work. They don’t work separately. […] So it’s a teamwork. […] And she had over ten years of research (into) how to teach them and to teach them to follow her brainwaves, her own ideas, and her own work,” she explains.

For galleries, trying to convince people to purchase a digital artwork can be an uphill battle. Elio D’Anna, co-founder and CEO of HOFA Gallery, says physical objects are the key to getting people to invest in digital art.

“The big challenge with digital art so far has been how do I collect? How can I have it in my house? And with this exhibition, we wanted to focus a lot on that as well, […] growing the awareness of this new medium and showing that it can also be collected in a both physical and digital way,” he explains.

Digital art is still in its early stages, and it’s had a difficult beginning. But experts expect the market to grow.

But what role will AI play in creating art as the technology evolves? The smart money is on it being another tool in the artist’s paintbox.

“In anything creative, there’s always a lot of error, going back and exploring and doing it again and so on. And a lot of this is for sure being replaced by machine learning and by AI systems that are able to help you speed up that process and to achieve to where you want to go,” says D’Anna.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

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[‘SPECTRAL Oscillation 1’, Sougwen Chung, robotic arms demonstrating brushstroke movements over Perspex artwork, on show at Phillips auction house galleries]

[Artist Sougwen Chen painting in collaboration with D.O.U.G. (Drawing Operations Unit Generation_X), the artist’s bespoke AI robotic system”]

[Simonida Pavicevic, co-founder and curator of HOFA Gallery, behind artwork]

[Brush in robotic arm]

[Pavicevic and robotic arm]

Simonida Pavicevic (interview): “So Sougwen managed to do something very impressive where she merges the robots with her work. They don’t work separately. They work together. So it’s a teamwork. They don’t work without her. She doesn’t work without them. And she had over ten years of research (into) how to teach them and to teach them to follow her brainwaves, her own ideas, and her own work.”

[‘SPECTRAL Oscillation 1’]

Simonida Pavicevic (interview): “With Sougwen is something very different. There is another world opening. Meaning where the physical art and digital art actually crosses paths. And to be honest, I was very surprised, where I come from the collectors world, where they always want a canvas, a sculpture, a very timeless work that they can always look at, even in 20 years that it doesn’t really lose the value and and that impression of the art. But they loved Sougwen.”

[Gallery]

[Two artworks]

[‘Cresting Figure’, Emily Xie, created using generative AI]

[Elio D’Anna, co-founder and CEO of HOFA Gallery, looking at ‘Milk’, Ana Maria Caballero]

Elio D’Anna (interview): “The big challenge with digital art so far has been how do I collect? How can I have it in my house? And with this exhibition, we wanted to focus a lot on that as well, showing, growing the awareness of this new medium and showing that it can also be collected in a both physical and digital way. So a lot of what is being exhibited here at Phillips today has a physical counterpart.”

[‘Reflective Shine’ and ‘Reflective Journey’, both Shirin Abedinirad. One is a photograph and one is a digital video installation]

[‘Reflective Shine’]

[Artworks]

[‘Reflective Journey’]

Miety Heiden (interview): “When cryptocurrency crashed, the market for NFT crashed as well. And what stayed were people who are real artists. And again, that’s what I’m interested in. And there you see them now at reasonable levels. You can buy something for 2 thousand, 3 thousand and that will mature. You will have people who will become very big and you, of course, have people who will stay where they are.”

[Digital video installation of ‘Study of Tomorrow Triptych’, Random International]

[Close ups of artwork]

[‘Winds of Yawanawa’, by Yawanawa and Refik Anadol]

Elio D’Anna (interview): “In anything creative, there’s always a lot of error, going back and exploring and doing it again and so on. And a lot of this is for sure being replaced by machine learning and by AI systems that are able to help you speed up that process and to achieve to where you want to go. But it is always the human choice to select. Where does it start? Where does it end? What is a finished artwork? What is a work that I would as an artist put my name.”

[‘Milk’, Ana Maria Caballero]

This script was provided by The Associated Press.