Concept text 

A symbiotic performance of human and IT-driven machine - A co-creation project

Human Co-Creator: Friedrich Bliem

Machine Co-Creator: by Sebastian Pirch

Concept/Drawings for Machine Co-Creator: Christiane Hütter

Resources: DrawingBotV3, openAI

Date: 18th November, 2024, time: 18:00

Location: LBI-NetMed, West (alte WU), Althanstrasse, 1090, Wien

Previous Demonstration held on Video

Abstract

Leveraging the power of generative transformer models, this project explores the intersection of biology and technology. Cellular structures are reimagined as complex technological circuits, providing the inspiration for these pen plotter drawings. Advanced drawing algorithms, facilitated by the DrawingBotV3 software, are employed to convert pixel images into vector graphics. This technical process enables the creation of line drawings and machine-readable code, bridging the gap between the digital and physical.

 

Explanatory Text

A painting process that is both organic and technological.

A human creator and "machine" in symbiosis. The drawing machine implements the algorithms of a software programme to produce geometric forms, precise lines and intricate patterns, that is a strict and CONTROLLED DESIGN of logic, reproducibility and precision.

Its human counterpart, a conduit of intuition and emotion, introduces the unpredictable and seemingly chaotic elements, a swirl of lines, a splash of color, thereby generating and adding the organic elements. The human painter thereby adds the CREATIVE CHAOS of life.

Their collaboration as a dialogue between the CONTROLLED and the CREATIVE, the two driving elements of evolution.

In this performance the "machine" is still directed by a computer programm. However, shortly it will seek and implement its own design via AI. This performance stands for and questions the future interaction and cooperation between humans and AI-driven processes.

Human operations are increasingly being replaced by automated and AI-driven operators, "stripping humans to their essential being" (quote Prof. Dr. J. Menche, LBI-MedNet). In this context, what is the essence of what we call "the human"? The human that can no longer be replaced and instead will be the basis for future cooperation with our AI-driven robots.

As the painting evolves, so too will the relationship between the co-creators. They complement each other, challenge each other, and ultimately, transcend the boundaries of their individual identities.

This performance and installation challenges the nature of creativity, the role of technology in the artistic process, and the potential for human-machine collaboration. It invites viewers to contemplate the boundaries between the natural and the artificial, the organic and the mechanical, the human and the machine.

Specific motif - a biological cell

The subject of their creation, the biological cell, a fundamental unit of life, will be reimagined as an electric circuit within an organic sphere, the cell membrane. The circuit stands for the strict design form and function of the cell, whereas the cell membrane it the fluid, continuously changing and thus adaptable in form and function. In the present context the strict design stands for the generative DNA-programme, as manifested the constitutive form-function of the biological cell. This is complemented by the membrane, which represents the creative chaos, the basis for adaption and continued evolution.