Algorithmic Art: Creative Missteps and Masterpieces

Hello everyone!

I hope you’ve all had a great start to the year.

It’s been a while since this community has hosted an event, and I realise I am a new face! I am Ben, the founder of AI Ethics London (another meetup community, which you’re very welcome to join!). I work in Data Ethics for the UK Government, and like to dabble with some creative uses of AI, though I’m likely much less an artist than most of you in this community!

However, I’m happy to announce the next event for this community! We’re hosting an event on the 3rd of March, displaying the work of 3 artists. We have a large event space, so please forward this onto others that may be interested (but please ask them to sign up, as we may need to manage signing people into the location!).

This event is kindly hosted by Newspeak House, The London College of Political Technology. Find out more about it at https://newspeak.house

I hope you all enjoy this event, and that we can bring this community back to life and grow it together!

Thanks,
Ben

Schedule

6-6:30PM - Arrive and social
6:30-6:40PM - Introductions (Ben Gilburt)
6:40-6:55PM - Algorithmic Photography (Alex May)
6:55-7:10PM - ReFrame (Ben Gilburt)
7:10-7:25PM - AI & Creativity (Lorenzo Belenguer)
7:25PM onwards - Drinks and social (location TBC)

Our Artists

Alex May - Algorithmic Photography

Bio: Alex May is an internationally recognised artist known for his innovative exploration of the intersection between art, science, and technology, focussing on creating multi layered works that resonate with the human experience in a digital world.

Website: https://alexmayarts.co.uk
Instagram/X: @alexmayarts

Description: Alex will discuss "Algorithmic Photography", his hand-crafted software technique and ongoing project that aesthetically reveals the complex patterns of movement of everyday scenes. He will also introduce his brand new AI based work "ESSENCE" that explores the artistic and existential challenges of how computers currently see us and the world.

Lorenzo Belenguer - AI and Creativity: Failing to Reach Originality (Not Quite There Yet)

Bio: Lorenzo Belenguer is a Queer, non-binary artist exploring themes of Queer visibility, power structures, and non-organic reasoning in the intersection of art and AI. With exhibitions at the British Museum and the Venice Biennale, he challenges traditional narratives through innovative, concept-driven works.

Website: www.lorenzobelenguer.com

Description: Belenguer discusses his attempt to create an original video animation using Python and an LLM, highlighting the model's limitations with unprecedented ideas. He proposed integrating random reasoning as a tool to mimic chance, fostering more innovative and artistic outcomes.

Ben Gilburt - ReFrame

Bio: Ben is an artist of precisely zero renown, but plenty of ideas which occasionally get completed with varying levels of success. Professionally, Ben works in AI, Digital and Data Ethics, with research interests in language model bias and privacy.

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/bengilburt/
Medium: https://medium.com/@benjamin.gilburt
X: @RealBenGilburt

Description: To anyone who played Pictionary over Christmas with family and friends, the difficulty in drawing what is described to us, or describing what we see is clear. Ben will be presenting the project ‘ReFrame’. A project which takes famous film scenes, and sees how accurately AI can describe them, and then draw what it describes, to re-create the film scene through a strange pipeline of AI-enabled broken-telephone.