ARTIST

EXHIBITION

William Latham gained recognition as a pioneering figure in generative art with his MUTATOR evolutionary art, developed at IBM during the late 1980s and early 1990s. His creations, characterized by organic, frequently serpentine shapes, are generated using his unique "alternative evolutionary software system" (created in collaboration with Stephen Todd and their team). This software allows Latham to select and crossbreed 3D forms that transcend the boundaries of human imagination.

In conversation with Anika Meier and Noah Bolanowski, William Latham discusses his concept of the artist as a gardener and the influence of gardening on his art, organic and evolutionary art, and the past, present, and future of digital art and AI. 


EVOLUTIONARY ART AND MUTATOR AI

WILLIAM LATHAM: THE ARTIST AS A GARDENER

IN CONVERSATION WITH WILLIAM LATHAM

THE ARTIST AS A GARDENER

MAGAZINE

INTERVIEW WITH SUSANNE PÄCH

HERBERT W. FRANKE'S ART 2.0: A LIFE IN SEARCH OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES FOR ART

Interview with Susanne Päch

Herbert W. Franke's Art 2.0: A life in search of new technologies for art

HIGHLIGHTS

Boris Eldagsen is the artist who made headlines by turning down the prestigious Sony Photography World Award in 2023. In a world where AI sparks debates between haters and worshippers, Eldagsen offers a unique perspective that transcends the binary narrative. Rejecting the notion that AI is solely a threat to creativity, Eldagsen emphasizes the importance of human agency and expertise in harnessing AI as a tool for artistic expression. 

AI AND PROMPTOGRAPHY

BORIS ELDAGSEN: "THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF THE FUTURE IS WHAT AI LEAVES BEHIND"

After decades of working in photography, acclaimed artist Phillip Toledano tried something new and started creating images with AI. Hooked by the technology and the endless possibilities it comes with, Toledano can't stop challenging himself artistically and the viewer intellectually. In his first AI series titled ANOTHER AMERICA, he reflects on a world that doesn't seem to make sense any more. Toledano's AI creations fill an empty spot in the world of post-photography and make the artist consider cutting back on conventional photography.

In conversation with Anika Meier, Toledano discusses his experiences and thoughts about artificial intelligence and photography. 

PHOTOGRAPHY AND AI

PHILLIP TOLEDANO: "AI IS A MIRROR TO THE IMAGINATION"

Alejandro Cartagena is a renowned photographer known for his captivating series CARPOOLERS and his pioneering role as the co-founder of Fellowship, a platform that champions historical and contemporary artists at the forefront of photography, generative art, AI, and video. 

PHOTOGRAPHY AND AI ON THE BLOCKCHAIN

ALEJANDRO CARTAGENA: WHAT AI IS CAPABLE OF

On the occasion of Gallery Weekend Berlin, EXPANDED.ART and Fellowship present Niceaunties first solo exhibition in Germany. In conversation with Anika Meier, Niceaunties discuss AI and storytelling, auntie culture and beauty treatments, and criticism of AI and how to deal with it. (Spoiler: don't deal with it!)

AI AND STORYTELLING

NICEAUNTIES: "ANYONE CAN BE AN AUNTIE"

FEATURED INTERVIEWS: AI AND IMAGE-MAKING

Kevin Esherick is an American conceptual artist and writer based in New York. A wide-ranging curiosity guides his work, which touches on subject matter from consciousness to consumerism to the philosophy of aesthetics, and mediums from denim to dynamic NFTs to generative AI. His practice is informed by his background in philosophy, psychology, and technology.

In June 2024, his debut solo exhibition, titled IN UTERO, will premiere at EXPANDED.ART in Berlin. Prior to the exhibition's launch, Anika Meier and Kevin Esherick engaged in a conversation about post-Internet art and the transformation of art in the digital realm amidst the influence of social media, AI and latent space, as well as life art and manglecore.

AI AND THE LATENT SPACE

KEVIN ESHERICK: "WHAT IS IT LIKE TO BE AN AI?"

Emi Kusano’s first job was taking fashion photos in the streets of Tokyo. She has always known that she was meant to be an artist, but she didn’t think she could make a living from it. Besides photography, she found other ways to be creative, such as playing in the band Satellite Young. Emi dressed up as an 80s idol and sang about technology. When Emi started working with AI, she understood that knowledge and taste are reflected in art more profoundly than ever before. She imagines fictional pasts and futures inspired by Japanese Futurism and subcultures, advocating for a mindful engagement with the world around us.

In conversation with Anika Meier, Emi Kusano discusses retrofuturism and nostalgia, street photography and AI, mass media and social media, feminism, and the digital art market.

AI AND NOSTALGIA 

EMI KUSANO: FICTIONAL FUTURES AND COGNITIVE CHAOS

ON POST-PHOTOGRAPHY

MARGARET MURPHY: RE-ROMANTICIZING THE ROAD TRIP

Roope Rainisto's AI creations are both instantly recognizable and disturbingly surreal. The Finnish artist embraces AI in all its imperfections and uses it to create AI photographs that are at once intimate and otherworldly. 

Roope Rainisto worked as a designer for over 25 years before fully devoting his career to exploring the field of AI photography. Since then, Rainisto has seen a remarkable rise to fame in the spheres of NFT and AI art. His NFT collection, LIFE IN WEST AMERICA, which explores a distorted vision of the idea of the American West, ranks among the highest-valued AI art collections. The work of Rainisto plays with the brain's innate pattern-seeking abilities by providing viewers with scenes that they have both seen a million times but have yet to encounter, cementing his success in the NFT space.

In conversation with Anika Meier, Rainisto speaks about stretching the boundaries of AI.

ROOPE RAINISTO: STRETCHING THE BOUNDARIES OF REALITY

Photography AND AI

CONVERSATIONS ABOUT AI

Anne Spalter knows how to help herself. When she was looking for a book about the pioneers of early computer art, she couldn't find an in-depth publication, so she wrote it herself. It took her six years to finish the book. Spalter took the time to speak with artists like Herbert W. Franke, Frieder Nake, and Manfred Mohr. When she first heard about artists working with technology, she wasn't convinced; she thought computers were for science. Her initial reaction helps her understand the sometimes negative responses to artists working with the latest technologies. Spalters herself became an artist interested in creating art with new technologies; she is a pioneer in the field of AI and, together with Michael Spalter, stewards one of the world's largest private collections of early computer art. 

AI AND VALUES 

ANNE SPALTER: "CAN ART EXIST WITHOUT AN ARTIST?"

lizvlx and Luzius Bernhard found each other in a basement in Vienna in 1994 and have started working together as an artist duo without clear responsibilities. They call themselves 'free floating radicals'. They are neither scared of being held responsible for their actions that challenge institutions and authorities, nor do they fear not being accepted by the art world. UBERMORGEN keep creating work for future audiences while the Internet around them changes at rapid speed. The Internet is changing, so their art is changing. From websites to NFTs, from cats to dicks.

In conversation with Anika Meier, UBERMORGEN discuss the beginning of their career, early net.art, fishers and rods, and the commodification of digital assets.

NET.ART AND VIDEO GAMES

UBERMORGEN: FREE FLOATING RADICALS

When Tali Hinkis started creating digital art during her studies in Paris in the 1990s, it was almost forbidden. She was drawn toward video art and has been bringing the element of technology into her practice ever since. Hinkis has evolved her practice from experimenting with audio-visuals to generative art and NFTs. Together with her partner Kyle Lapidus, Hinkis builds the artist duo LoVid, whose interdisciplinary works explore the often invisible or intangible aspects of contemporary society.

In conversation with Anika Meier, the artist speaks about the early stages of her practice, female pioneers of digital art and power structures, the evolving the online art world, and advice she would give emerging female artists.

FEMALE PIONEERS AND POWER STRUCTURES

TALI HINKIS: THE GENDERED SPACE OF TECHNOLOGY 

Claudia Hart wrote her way into visual art. Leveraging her positions at ID and later at ARTFORUM, Hart took the opportunity to explore the obscure corners of design and contemporary art and became obsessed. Her obsession led to her curating an exhibition in 1984 about art and design crossover, an impulse that then swept the art scene. It was called HOUSE ON THE BORDERLINE, and was staged at White Columns, New York's oldest alternative non-profit space. The artists, curators, and writers she met—from the gallerist Holly Solomon to artists Dan Graham and Ericka Beckman—guided her. Hart's explorations led her to rediscover herself as an artist using multiple mediums, from the decorative arts to painting and animation. 

In the mid-1990s, Hart saw the movie TOY STORY at the Berlin Film Festival. It inspired her to animate A CHILD’S MACHIAVELLI (Penguin Edition, 1996), her most well-known illustrated book. This piece has lasting relevance. First because of its profound human theme—political strategy and the will to power—but also because the artist translated her version of Niccolò Machiavelli's Renaissance treatise THE PRINCE from one new technology into the next over the course of thirty years. 


CULTURE WARS AND ANIMATIONS

CLAUDIA HART: MIND AND BODY, CONVERSATION WITH ANIKA MEIER PART II

CONVERSATIONS WITH FEMALE PIONEERS OF DIGITAL ART

Herbert W. Franke is a universal genius, you can say that with a clear conscience. For several decades he separated three lives: he was the caver and scientist, the artist and curator, the art theorist and the science fiction author. Only on the occasion his solo exhibition in 2010 at the ZKM Karlsruhe did he bring these three lives and careers together under the title "Wanderer Between the Worlds". In the early 1950s caving led him to experiment with light and technology. He kept his curiosity throughout his life; it was his drive to examine new technologies for their artistic potential. His pioneering spirit made him one of the first computer artists who was more than six decades ahead of his time. Franke discussed his visionary practice with Anika Meier in June 2022.

INTERVIEW WITH HERBERT W. FRANKE

"TECHNOLOGY IS NOT A THREAT TO ART"

Anika Meier in Conversation with Herbert W. Franke

CONVERSATION ABOUT DIGITAL ART 

"Many of the early pioneers did not dare call their work art and instead categorized it as design." – Herbert W. Franke

INTERVIEW

HAND-PLOTTING AND TYPEWRITINGS

PAUL PRUDENCE: THINKING LIKE AN ALGORITHM

ARTISTS

As pioneers of digital art, Herbert W Franke and Lee Mullican have left behind a significant legacy. Anika Meier discusses the artists' impact on today's digital art and NFT scene with representatives of their Estates, Susanne Päch and Cole Root. 

EARLY DIGITAL ART'S INFLUENCE ON NFTS

HERBERT W. FRANKE & LEE MULLICAN: PIONEERS AND THEIR LEGACY

Early Digital Art

Danny Franzreb's interest in computers and technology led him to blockchain and NFTs. Understanding technology and its impact on society, art, and culture weren’t enough for him. He wanted to meet and understand the people building the infrastructure; he wanted to make blockchain and crypto mining tangible. The result is PROOF OF WORK, a photo book and exhibitions around it that capture the unique individuals and diverse locales of the crypto mining scene, ranging from small-scale basement prospectors and industrial mining farms in Russia to high-tech, sustainable factories in Sweden.

In conversation with Anika Meier, Franzreb discusses his career, from the early days of Flash and Processing to his photo book PROOF OF WORK, which documents mining and miners.

GENERATIVE ART AND PHOTOGRAPHY

DANNY FRANZREB: THE EARLY DAYS OF FLASH, PROCESSING, AND THE BLOCKCHAIN

The Japanese artist qubibi is known on the Internet for his artwork of worms. That probably sounds strange. Just as astonishing is the life of qubibi, who actually didn't want to become an artist. He finally came to digital art through his circle of friends and video games. He is now one of the best-known and most successful artists in the field of generative art.

In conversation with Anika Meier, qubibi talks about his path to art, about beauty and worms, generative art, and exhibitions.

VIDEO GAMES AND GENERATIVE ART 

QUBIBI: BEAUTY AND WORMS

CONVERSATIONS ABOUT GENERATIVE ART

Read conversations with artists and collectors and gain exclusive insights into the art world of today. 

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