Calculated Aesthetics : : :
Digital Art

Soon after their invention, watches were much more than just instruments for measuring time. The fine mechanics of clockworks and other technical apparatus fascinated people and shaped their view of the world. Precisely interlocking components with their specific functions, combined with systemic thinking, fueled the belief in technology. In models, the spirit of mechanics mapped the human anatomy and planetary orbits. Ingenious inventions enabled ever more daring designs for the construction of the Titanic, the Eifel Tower, the Apollo 11 rocket … Perfected engines with their interacting crankshafts, connecting rods and pistons ‘under the hood’ continue to inspire today.

“Form follows function”¹ – in addition to new functions, innovative technologies generally also shape our aesthetic sensibilities. The current megatopics of ‘artificial intelligence’ and ‘biotechnology’ will increasingly be reflected in art and graphic design. In the image archives of agencies, visualizations of stylized data streams and of ‘clouds’ have been found for a long time and in great numbers.

Algorithms don’t just analyze data. The strict logic of zeros and ones also produces ever more beautiful images. Programs produce aesthetics. Conversely, people design for algorithms. Copywriters and web designers optimize their creations specifically for search engines. Many a text is written from the outset exclusively for the robots. It’s no surprise that our aesthetic sensibilities are also shaped by IT: the digital design tools in graphics programs have ‘grown up’, the computer mouse has largely replaced pen and brush.

All ‘possible’ processes will be digitized and automated. Even the qualified fields of work of doctors and lawyers are set to change as a result of collaboration with artificial intelligence. What about the professional fields of the fine arts in this context? Can artificial intelligence also replace creatives? Are ‘artistic works’ still tied to human artists at all?

Design is particularly connected with emotions. At the lowest level of our ‘operating system’, however, emotions are biochemical processes. “Emotions are not based on intuition, inspiration or freedom – they are based on calculation”². What if our emotions were evaluated and creatively interpreted by algorithms? Artificial intelligence would be able to analyze images, compositions and painting styles of past centuries within a very short time. Using the patterns of mass-liked images, themes, trends, design styles and color preferences could be combined to create new artistic works.

From these thoughts, new questions arise:

• Can artificial intelligence (AI) be more creative than humans?
• Will the computers of the future create outstanding, unseen masterpieces? In August 2022, the painting “Théâtre d’Opéra Spatial”, which was calculated by a ‘text-to-image program’, won an art competition in Colorado, USA. The desired image was thus described in advance by a ‘human’, and the visual implementation was generated by an AI.
• Will future studios be dominated by data glasses, displays, plotters and 3D printers, instead of easels and marble blocks?
• Will artists simulate themselves in virtual spaces and watch their avatars work on pixelated easels in the metaverse?
• Will ‘digital twins’ also become acceptable in art production, as in industry, in order to plan artworks and artistic actions more efficiently in advance?
• Can individualized works of art be automated and industrially produced?
• Will art be stored in personal art libraries of ‘art subscriptions’, similar to playlists at music providers?
• What effects would mass production of individual works have on reception, on collections, and on the art market?
• Can there be a mass market for created music, literature and painting, composed, written and painted by automata?
• Will pattern recognition programs be able to detect, match, and recombine image styles and artistic themes?
• Will the visual heritage of mankind be automatically evaluated?
• Will the analysis of huge amounts of data and the power of self-learning systems result in the best compositions of all time in the near future – just as computers have long been unbeatable chess players?
• Can AI generate artworks that take into account our tastes, preferences, and desires, and that even respond directly, even during the tour, to the feelings of museum visitors – similar to the illuminated room walls in visionary smart homes that are controlled by mood swings?
• Will ‘breaks’, ‘natural’ deviations from the perfection of a ‘too smooth’ aesthetic, be ‘artificially’ included in the works by chance, just as jeans are artificially worn out to ‘enliven’ and ‘animate’ them?
• Will artists and cobots form collaborative teams like those used in the industrial production of cars? Which, after the age of the technical reproducibility of works of art³, as already in medieval painters’ workshops, produce individual pieces ‘on the assembly line’ according to the principles of Henry Ford? Just as individualized vehicles are delivered in today’s automobile production?
• Are conventional artists and authors, like other professions, becoming obsolete or, on the contrary, are they experiencing an upswing because ‘real’ art by people and ‘real handiwork’ are once again rising in price?
• Should we long for the new algorithms and systems because it could ‘push’ the overall quality level of art?