In 1840, influential French painter Paul Delaroche saw a photograph for the first time, declaring “from today, painting is dead!” The exclamation sums up the anxieties around the technology when it emerged onto the art scene. More than one hundred years later, the art world saw another seismic shift: the introduction of television and the dawn of the information age. In the 1960s, Andy Warhol become an early adopter of digital art, whilst landmark figures such as Nam June Paik – credited with the concept of the “information superhighway” – began to incorporate videos and televisions into installations. Fast forward to today, and the emergence of artificial intelligence has ushered in a new era of innovation. ChatGPT, a chatbot that entered the market in November 2022, brought the debate around AI to the mainstream and the conversation has not stopped since. Questions have been raised around how this tool influences creative authenticity and intellectual property, with lines drawn between those who embrace it as a novel way to share ideas and others who believe it dilutes art. Today we bring you five exhibitions of artists who are using cutting-edge technology in their work. Those featured navigate this unknown territory, embracing it to enhance their art and explore new methods of creative expression. Yet their works simultaneously raise the alarm about some of the key dangers and pitfalls of AI, reminding viewers to tread this new road with caution.
Art and technology are intertwined. In recent years, developments in digital methods and video game software have offered unprecedented opportunities to artists. Yet, the introduction of generative Artificial Intelligence has also raised significant concerns about authenticity and human creativity. Mori Art Museum investigates this duality, showcasing works produced by both “machines” and artists, often in collaboration with one another. A particular highlight is the work of leading AI researcher Kate Crawford and artist Vladan Joler, who display a 24-metre-wide infographic tracking the relationship between technology and power since the 16th century. The exhibiting artists confront a world where the limitations of human and digital innovation no longer apply.
Ryoji Ikeda: Data-verse
High Museum of Art, Atlanta | 7 March – 10 August
We live in a data-driven world. Data shapes much of our lives, from online reviews and ratings that help inform shopping and restaurant choices, to the increasingly detailed personal information held by social media companies, banks and hospitals. Ryoji Ikeda (b. 1966), one of the world’s leading composers and media artists, considers the impacts of digitalisation in his work. High Museum of Art’s new exhibition is a culmination of two decades of Ikeda’s research on the topic. data-verse is a trilogy of monumental, immersive light and sound installations that reflects upon the progressive digitialisation of an integrated global society. The projections stretch floor-to-ceiling, enveloping audiences in a seemingly endless flow of data extracted from mathematical theories and the study of quantum physics.
Hamburger Bahnhof | 28 February – 20 July
Hamburger Bahnhof invites visitors to step into the fictional universe of Ayoung Kim (b. 1979). The South Korean artist uses Artificial Intelligence, virtual reality, video, game simulation and sculpture to create immersive narratives. Each of the artist’s works shines a light on present-day society, allowing viewers to step inside an alternative worldview. Now, Kim’s first solo exhibition in Germany addresses migration, xenophobia and queerness. Guests are transformed into first-person players, controlling the story from their own point of view, whilst the unfolding events begin to mirror real world happenings. The Museum of Modern Art PS1, New York, recently announced the artist’s US debut later this year. There is little doubt that, as the realities of climate change, geopolitical conflict and wealth inequalities increasingly impact communities, Kim’s works will continue to capture the attentions of audiences around the world.
How does the use of AI in recording and retelling national histories shape who gets to be heard? Artistic collective Planetary Portals interrogates how artificial intelligence interprets archival photography to produce a historical story. The show centres on 19th century South African gold and diamond mines, using documents and photographs left behind by ruling authorities – including the Papers of Cecil Rhodes – to recreate the environmental landscape. Rhodes is a controversial figure: an imperialist, businessman and politician who played a dominant role in southern African in the late 19th century. The resulting project is a reminder that, throughout history, voices in positions of power are often the ones to be preserved. When we use these resources to inform AI, we must consider questions around who is being excluded. Whose voices are silenced, whose lives erased, and what materials cannot be archived?
Christopher Kulendran Thomas’ work explores the complex legacies of imperialism. A British artist of Sri Lankan-Tamil descent, Kulendran Thomas uses artificial intelligence to examine the myths around Western individualism. Safe Zone confronts how narratives are valued, circulated or erased from history. At the core of the exhibition is Peace Core (2024), a rotating sphere of 24 screens that transmit a continuous stream of television footage, broadcast in the moments before TV channels cut live to the unfolding events of September 11, 2001. The purpose-built AI algorithm stitches more than 24,000 clips into an ever-evolving sequence, accompanied by a soundscape that continually remixes broadcasts from that morning on American TV. On the surface, Peace Corps conjures the allure of seemingly simpler times, before the era-defining disaster struck. Yet, the perpetual revising of sound and image creates a sense of unease, informed by the audience’s knowledge of the events that are about to unfold.
Words: Emma Jacob
Image Credits:
Lu Yang DOKU the Self 2022 Video 36 min. Music: liiii.
test pattern [100m version], audiovisual installation, (2013) © Ryoki Ikeda. Photo by Wonge Bergmann. Courtesy of Ruhrtriennale 2013.
Ayoung Kim, Delivery Dancer’s Sphere, 2022, Filmstill © Ayoung Kim, Gallery Hyundai.
Installation view: Christopher Kulendran Thomas,Peace Core (sphere), 2024 ,’ in collaboration withAnnika Kuhlmann; Installation view: ‘Christopher Kulendran Thomas: Safe Zone’, FACT, Liverpool, 2025. Photo credit: Andrea Rossetti.
