Several Lakeside artists this week made a bee line for the Mónica Cárdenas Gallery in San Antonio Tlayacapan to experiment with Raquel-AI, an artificial intelligence system currently on show that creates works of art by entering phrases, texts, quotes or images.
“I didn't know what to expect,” said Allan McGregor, one of the participants who played with the system on March 11. “I was invited to sit at the keyboard and type in a phrase that would then produce an original work created from images of existing pieces of art. I typed ‘Thinking is a disease,’ a quote from the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. The artwork I created was from three photos of separate artworks, including Marcel Duchamp's ‘1917 Fountain’ (a urinal), now considered the first piece of Surrealist sculpture and worth a fortune.”
McGregor continued: “By the time I finished the piece, and talked with the creator of the AI program, I felt as if I had just left the infamous 1913 Armory Show in New York City, having just walked into the era of what was coming to be known as Modern Art. For good or for bad, AI is changing how art is made, received and perceived. And that is bound to give us the good, the bad and the ugly.”
The MC Gallery continues its outreach with other activities associated with the Raquel-IA show to be held over the coming week:
• Thursday, March 23, 5 to 7 p.m., sees the participation of well-known local artists, including renowned photographer Xill Fessenden and Ernesto Barba, who will experiment with live painting in combination with Raquel-IA.
• March 27, at the close of the exhibition, several invited artists will create works with Raquel-AI, which will later be auctioned off.
The Gallery MC is on the plaza in San Antonio Tlayacapan, number 2B.