This episode centers on the transformative effects of AI on the creative landscape, as highlighted in issue 40 of Juergen Berkessel's newsletter, “The Intersect.” We discuss how AI is not just a tool for creation, but also a means of preserving cultural heritage and enhancing artistic expression. Throughout our conversation, we explore various examples, from the innovative use of AI in music restoration to the impact of AI-generated art on traditional notions of authorship. We also address the ongoing dialogue between traditional artists and tech creators, emphasizing the importance of collaboration. Ultimately, we encourage listeners to consider how these technological advancements can redefine our understanding of art and creativity.

Find the latest episode at https://theintersect.art/issues/40 , and sign up for the newsletter at The Intersect of Tech and Art website

Takeaways:

• The podcast emphasizes how AI is transforming the creative landscape, impacting everything from art production to preservation.
• Jurgen Berkessel highlights the importance of distinguishing between AI as a facilitator and a creator in art.
• Felipe Posada's work exemplifies the innovative use of AI, blending digital tools with artistic vision rather than using them as shortcuts.
• The discussion includes how slow looking encourages deeper engagement with art, enhancing visual literacy in a world of rapid image consumption.
• The legal implications of AI in art are complex, especially concerning copyright and the necessity of human creativity in the artistic process.
• Jurgen's insights encourage exploring the collaboration between traditional artists and AI creators, suggesting that breaking down silos could lead to new art forms.

Welcome back to the Intersect.

You know, for anyone just joining us for the first time, we're all about that space where art and tech kind of like bump into each other, right?

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

We take what our curator, Jurgen Berkensl, finds, all these cool new stories and insights, and we.

We break it down.

Makes sense what's really interesting and why.

People should even care.

So for this one, we're looking at issue 40 of his newsletter.

It's all about how AI is, like, changing the whole creative scene.

Yeah.

And it's.

It's a lot, right?

Preservation of cultural stuff, fashion, photography, even, like the whole slow looking thing.

Everyone's talking about that now in a.

World of just, like, visual overload.

Right.

I tell you.

Okay, but first, something that really caught my eye.

The Beatles.

The Beatles?

Yeah, I mean, they won a Grammy, right?

For now and then, right?

Which, like.

Okay, the Beatles, they've been around forever, but this is different.

This song has John Lennon's vocals, but they were, like, isolated and enhanced using A.I.

It'S wild, right?

It's not A.I.

making up a whole new Beatles song.

It's A.I.

taking these old recordings and making them, I don't know, like, possible in a way they wouldn't have been before.

Right?

Like bringing them back to life almost.

Jurgen, he's.

He's fascinated by this whole thing.

The potential for.

For saving our cultural, like, heritage.

Like restoring old opera recordings.

Oh, yeah.

The ones that sound kind of terrible, basically.

I think Caruso.

Right.

We can use AI to hear them in a whole new way, bringing them, I guess, closer to modern audiences, but without messing with the artistry.

The original performance.

That's pretty amazing when you think about it.

It's like a time machine almost.

You know?

Makes you wonder what else is out there from the past that we could bring back?

Oh, tons.

It's super exciting, these new technologies.

Yeah.

And Jurgen's really big on this point that AI is a facilitator, not a replacement.

You know, it's not replacing the human element.

He actually says, let me find the exact quote.

AI isn't a creator here.

It's a facilitator for preservation and restoration.

That distinction matters more than most realize.

Yeah.

Because it makes you think differently about it.

Right?

Like, how can we use it to.

To honor the past, but also look to what's possible in the future.

Yeah.

Find that balance.

Totally.

Okay, so speaking of possibilities, let's talk about an artist Jurgen features in his newsletter, Felipe Posada.

He goes by the Invisible Realm and his work.

Wow.

It's mind blowing.

Yeah.

His digital collages are really something like a.

A vibrant kind of 70s surrealism.

Jurgen mentions vintage fashion, rainbows, leisurely scenes, but then like, distorted, blended with AI.

It's like if Salvador Dali had know.

Gotten his hands on AI.

Yes.

And Jurgen's point is that Posada isn't using AI as a.

Like a shortcut to art.

It's a medium, a tool to.

To get this very specific vision across.

Right.

So he's not just plugging in prompts and calling it a day.

He's taking those AI generated pieces and, I don't know, like, weaving them into his own thing.

Exactly.

Skill, vision, the whole package.

And it makes you wonder, does it change what it means to be an artist?

Yeah.

Jurgen asks, does Posada's approach redefine where the line falls between digital tools and artistic authorship?

That's deep.

Like, where does the AI end and the artist begin?

A question we're going to be asking more and more as AI gets more powerful, right?

Oh, yeah.

It's everywhere.

Yeah.

And that's a great segue to the next thing Jurgen talks about.

Yeah.

His state of AI in the Arts report.

It's on his substack and it's gents, but really good.

He covers the impact of AI on, I mean, everything.

Creating art, the art market, you know, even ethics.

And who owns what authorship.

Right.

Like we were just saying.

But.

But what I found interesting was Jurgen talks about this growing divide between, like, the traditional artists and institutions, you know, and the tech people, the AI creators.

Two different worlds trying to figure out how to exist together.

Yeah.

And he's talked to artists who are just like, resistant to the whole AI thing.

He quotes them saying stuff like, I work with paper, with paint, with my hands.

AI has nothing to do with real art.

Exactly.

Which, you know, you can understand that.

Right.

If you spent your life mastering a craft, this is a huge shift.

Yeah.

It's going to take time for everyone to, I don't know, adjust.

But Jurgen, while he gets that resistance, he asks, how much are we losing by staying in our silos instead of exploring the possibilities together?

Like, what if we broke down the walls?

You know, what could emerge?

Right.

New art forms, new perspectives.

Makes you think.

And speaking of new perspectives, Jurgen also includes this article from Art in America.

What is Realism in the Age of AI?

That's the title.

What?

Wow.

I mean, what does real mean anymore?

When anyone can just like, generate images with AI?

Right.

It's a big question.

And it's only going to get bigger as those AI generated images get more, I don't know, sophisticated, lifelike.

Jurgen thinks our whole relationship with photography has changed.

We're not so naive anymore.

We know images can be.

Can be messed with.

A lot of us have done it ourselves, right?

With filters, AI tools.

And we see so many images every day, it's hard to know what's real, what's been changed.

But here's the thing.

Jurgen says this awareness hasn't totally ruined photography for us.

We still value it, its power to capture a moment.

So we're holding these two ideas at once.

Images can be fake, but we still want to believe in their.

In their truth.

Right?

He quotes that Art America article which says viewers don't necessarily approach images expecting visual transcripts of reality.

But neither have they become fully disillusioned of photography's promise to preserve a moment.

Savviness and disavowal proceed together.

So, like, where does that leave the artist?

Jurgen asks, are we leaning into this duality or resisting it?

How do artists respond to this new reality?

It's fascinating.

Totally changes the game.

Okay, but let's shift gears a bit.

Something a bit more concrete.

Jurgen talks about the legal side of all this, specifically copyright.

Oh, yeah, that's a hot topic.

And it's only getting hotter as AI gets, you know, more used in art.

So he talks about this report from the US Copyright Office.

Hyperallergic covered it.

Basically, artworks made with AI can be copyrighted, but only if they show, quote, sufficient human creativity.

Meaning it's not enough to just, like, type in prompts.

A human has to be involved, making creative choices, shaping the final piece.

There was that case, remember the Arta del Pre Spatial created by Jason M.

Allen using Midjourney.

He was denied copyright because basically the AI did most of the work.

And Jurgen uses this to talk about the difference between, like, AI assisted art, which is more of a collaboration, versus AI generated, where you're kind of just delegating the creation.

Right.

And he argues that if you're shaping, editing, whatever that AI output to achieve your artistic goal, that might be enough.

Showing that human touch, his words are.

Expressive elements, hinge on whether a human's fingerprints are visible in the final output.

A question that.

That invites more nuance than legal standards often allow.

Exactly.

It's messy and the law is always, like, 10 steps behind.

We'll see how it all plays out.

Okay, but let's step away from the legal stuff and get a little more, I don't know, contemplative.

Jurgen talks about slow Looking, which is like the opposite of all this digital overload we're dealing with.

Yeah.

The idea is to really see what's in front of you, whether it's art or just, you know, your everyday life.

Jurgen says that we rush through everything now, museums, social media.

And we miss the depth, the richness that you only get when you actually pay attention.

He has this great line.

Here's my take.

Rushing through a museum, or life for that matter, robs us of the depth that only time and attention can uncover.

It's not just about identifying what an image is, but asking what it feels like and why.

Slowing down transforms a gaze into an experience.

And yes, that includes the mundane moments, like noticing the shadows cast by your coffee mug.

I mean, it's poetry, right?

It is.

He's saying, look around, there's beauty everywhere.

And he mentions this article from the conversation about how slow looking helps you develop visual literacy.

They say the act of slow looking develops visual literacy.

It examines why certain images move us above others and what they say about our reality, values or beliefs.

It's about being more than just a passive viewer.

Right.

You're actively engaging, asking questions, forming your.

Own interpretations, becoming a more, I guess, critical viewer, which is huge in this age of AI images, we gotta be able to spot what's real, what's manipulated.

And slow looking helps with that.

It trains your eye to see more beyond the surface.

And Jurgen ends with this question.

What would happen if we approached everyday life with the same kind of thoughtful attention we reserve for a Rembrandt?

Wow.

It's like, be more present, you know, more mindful, appreciate the world.

Yeah, we could all use a little more of that.

But on that note, let's switch gears again.

Jurgen features this amazing photographer, Sarah Radcliffe.

Her AI generated fashion photography is something else.

It was featured in Partvelia's dreamlike avant garde fashion.

Surreal elements blurs reality and fantasy.

It's like she's creating whole new worlds where the rules of fashion, even physics, don't really apply.

And Jurgen's point is, AI is making that line between fashion photography as like commerce and fashion photography as art, even blurrier.

Because traditionally, it's always been both, right, selling clothes, but also expressing an artistic vision.

Totally.

But now with AI, there's so much more room for exploration, for playing around.

Jurgen says fashion photography's role has always been dual, to persuade and to provoke.

With AI, it can now be a space where art and technology collaborate to challenge our perceptions of what's possible.

So it's not just about pretty pictures anymore.

It's about making you think.

And he ends with it's if fashion photography is no longer confined to the material world, what does it mean for the future of fashion itself?

It's a good question.

How will AI change how we design clothes, how we experience them, even how we think about them?

Definitely.

And Jurgen, he ends by telling us to keep talking about this stuff, you know, have these conversations, be open to exploring what this new era has to offer.

And on that note, if you want to dive deeper, check out Jurgen's newsletter, issue 40.

It's on his substack.

Yeah, there's a lot more there.

Really insightful stuff.

And for more on the intersection of art and tech, visit the Intersect Art.

Thanks for joining us on this journey into the world of art and tech.

It's always changing, always something new to discover.

Until next time, stay curious, stay creative and keep those conversations going.