THESE EYES DO EXIST
Exhibited in the fall 2021 Tracked and Traced exhibition at Science Gallery Detroit / Michigan State University.
These Eyes Do Exist is an installation exploring four stages of the AI art creation process: ‘dataset creation’, ‘model code’, ‘training resources’, and ‘publishing’. By highlighting the distinct labor and tools at each stage, this piece shows the ways that artificial intelligence is grounded in interdependent human processes — processes rarely credited.
In the center of the room projected on a large sphere, a video piece carefully traces the threads that make up an AI-generated artwork, showing that the stages of the creation process and co-authors are just as important and beautiful as the works themselves.
On the monitors around the room, four student-made AI artworks are featured. The four works around the room are: Lia Coleman, Paper Rememory; Naoko Hara, Origami Explorations; Sam Griffith, Circuit Boards; Rita Duan, Fission&Recombination.
Additionally, a large control display showcases Making AI Art Responsibly: A Field Guide, a digital zine detailing questions and emergent best practices for making AI art, turning attention to under-acknowledged collaborators in the AI art-making process.
Connected Workshop
Midway through the exhibition period, Emily Saltz, Claire Leibowicz, and I facilitated an in-person workshop Making AI Art Responsibly: Artist and AI Co-creation at Science Gallery Detroit.
I taught participants hands-on practical AI art skills, such as how to gather their video dataset of their own eye and use RunwayML to train their own generative ML model.
While I did that, I also introduced participants to the Responsible AI Art Field Guide and facilitated critical reflection on what we were doing. For instance, What could be dangerous about collecting a video dataset of your eye?
After the workshop, I incorporated the student work into an updated version of These Eyes Do Exist. In other words, I added the trained eye models from consenting participants into the video piece projected on the sphere. This update was by design, to highlight the complex process of tracing ownership and credit among multiple data collaborators, as is often the case in AI art creation.
These Eyes Do Exist
Lia Coleman, Emily Saltz
Sound Design: Kakia Gkoudina; Motion Design: Danqi Qian; Creative Tech Consultant: Greg Sadetsky
Featured works: Lia Coleman, Naoko Hara, Sam Griffith, Rita Duan