Ai-Da the robot and her art creations. (Photo by Victor Frankowski)

Ai-Da Takes Her Brush to the Metaverse and Gains Venice-based Exhibition

We have carried stories about algorithms being integrated into the arts. Everything from composing pop music to classical themed music. AI is writing articles and answering questions in real-time. So it’s no surprise that AI is making strides in creating for the art world.

A short while back Seeflection.com did a story about Ai-Da the robot artist being held up at the Egyptian border because authorities thought she might be a spy. Well in truth she is not a she but rather she is an “it.” The border guards eventually allowed Ai-Da to enter Egypt.

Her creator, gallerist Aidan Meller, considers her both an artist in her own right, and a work of conceptual art. (Meller, and his robot, also have a fair share of critics.) This isn’t the artist’s first high-profile exhibition. She’s shown work at the Design Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, and last fall was part of “Forever Is Now,” the first contemporary art show ever staged at the Great Pyramid of Giza.

We found this info in an article from news.artnet.com and it was written by art lover Sarah Cascone. She writes that  Ai-Da not only creates art but she thinks deeply about the art she is creating. For instance:

Ai-Da’s Venice exhibition will look to the future, and how humanity will interact with AI technology, especially with the expected rise of the Metaverse. But the show’s theme, inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy, also points to the potential dark side of AI’s growing influence on our daily lives, comparing the Metaverse to Purgatory, a place halfway between reality and fiction where no one wants to be stuck for too long.

“The greatest artists in history grappled with their period of time, and both celebrated and questioned society’s shifts. Ai-Da Robot, as technology, is the perfect artist today to discuss the current obsession with technology and its unfolding legacy,” Meller said in a statement. “Is the so-called ‘progress’ in technology something we really want, and if so, how should it manifest?”

Taking her talents to explore the Metaverse is pretty deep thinking. The Metaverse is still being created. Perhaps a perfect time for an artist driven by AI to introduce her vision to the art world.

If you missed Ai-Da’s previous outings, she’s bringing her glass “Leaping into the Metaverse” artworks from the V&A to Venice, along with Immortal Riddle, her Giza sculpture of herself with three legs, which draws a comparison between the ancient Egyptian belief in the afterlife with contemporary efforts to use biotechnology to artificially extend our lifespans. “Ai-Da Robot: Leaping into the Metaverse” will be on view at the Concilio Europeo Dell’Arte venue, InParadiso Gallery, Giardini della Biennale, Castello 1260-30122, 30122, Venezia, Italy.

read more at news.artnet.com