esc medien kunst labor
OUT OF CONTROL

To the current polycrisis and the feeling that many things are out of control, we can also respond by tolerating ambivalence. In other words, with the ability to minutely perceive, analytically absorb, and creatively transform uncertainties and threats—not least to remain productive and capable of acting on an emotional level.

Media artists are pioneers when it comes to critically dealing with artificial intelligence and searching for a fair and ethical approach, for instance in relation to the right not to be controllable or codable. AI is—again, rather ambivalently—their tool. Many AI works invite viewers to help shape them. Viewers are asked to rethink their role and engage with the agency and obstinacy of the nonhuman in our networked world.

Yet, the use and rapid development of generative and multimodal AI in art also raises the question of creative competition: Is an area of human creativity spiraling out of control here?