Exhibition Opening: Olaf Schirm – SINGULARITY

„As an artist I am interested in the communication process between man and machine, the tension and challenge of human mind and AI (Artificial Intelligence).

We cordially invite you to the vernissage of the exhibition “Singularity” by Olaf Schirm on February 25th, 2023 from 7:30 p.m. The artist is personally present.

7:30 p.m.  Introduction by curator Oliver Kratz

9:30 p.m. Tour of the exhibition with Olaf Schirm

Music: Don Trakos

The artist:

Olaf Schirm (*1958, Berlin) is focussed on exploring the chances and riscs, the glitches in man and machine interaction, the spirt of a machine, a robot or an artificial intelligence. He creates physical and digital works, especially installations in the area of science art, light art, sound art, cybernetic art and digital paintings made with artificial intelligence (AI).

Schirm has been active in the field of digital computer art since the 1980s. In this context, he was invited by Prof. Dr. W. Franke to a panel on computer art at BMW as early as May 1989, where he presented his work in digital art, in which he is still deeply rooted today. Subsequently, Schirm published various articles on virtual and mixed realities and proposals for user interfaces for them, held numerous panels and presentations. Schirm created several award winning digital commercials, mascots and real-time characters for TV, film and stage in the 1980s, 90s and 2000s. Since 2021, he has been working with artificial intelligence software on new digital artworks.

Olaf Schirm describes the work on his A.I. scenographics as follows:

„As an artist I am interested in the communication process between man and machine, the tension and challenge of human mind and AI (Artificial Intelligence).

I coined the naming “scenographics” for a digital painting which originates from instructions of a human mind to a KI. The art process of scenographics is all about arranging elements into a scene, which has been only in my imagination up to now and can be brought to reality through a dialogue with the AI. In contrast to a collage, it is seamless and generative.

In scenographics the AI does not supply colors, as in a conventional paint box, or colors and patterns, as in digital painting software, but it provides scenic elements. Precise textual instructions of the content and context desired are sent to the AI in form of a text input and it generates a visual result from this, a digital image. This is comparable to instructions from a theater director to a team of set builders and lighting technicians for a new performance, for example:

“A panoramic view of a harbor in a small town, Middle Ages, autumn, afternoon, with strolling people, fishing boats, seagulls, in the style of F.M. Richter-Reich, naturalism.”

The placement of elements by the AI is often highly strange, an aesthetic image structure is rare. That’s why lots of images have to be calculated and analyzed carefully to improve the instructions for the AI, refined or reformulated more and more.

With the scenographics I further explore the frontier of the mind in the machine, find peculiarities of the AI worth discovering and make them tangible for you.

The location:

Coderitter is a young IoT startup from Dresden that specializes in the development and implementation of software and hardware solutions on edge. The startup works with the latest technologies and research results in the field of AI to develop innovative products and services for its customers.

Links:

www.olaf-schirm.de

www.coderitter.io

@oliverkratzartexhibitions

www.SoundCloud.com/trakos

Image: OSKI: „A new dawn“, Digital Print on canvas, 60 x 80 cm, 2022.