Out of Sync: new paths for digital art

In our post-digital times, where we are flooded by AI content that is hard to distinguish from the “real” thing, we need to rethink art. Anybody can enter a prompt into ChatGPT and co. and produce an image in seconds. We lack transparency around what intellectual property rights this violates. Artworks are fed into AI tools to create new images on command – in anime style, for example, as with the characteristic visual style of Studio Ghibli. What does art mean when everyone can copy and modify it without having to produce anything of their own?

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This is where the bachelor’s degree Art and Multimedia – which combines art, design, digital media, and media informatics – comes into play. “Creativity doesn’t mean generating some cat image and now you’re an artist,” says Dr. Karin Wimmer, art historian and head of the degree program. “Our students are more than equipped when it comes to media skills.” They do a lot of work with AI, she notes, and constantly grapple with the question of authorship. Artists remain largely accountable for their own artworks, even when they were created with the use of digital tools.

This awareness is reflected in the art projects in the exhibition. “Conditional Entry” by Xara Beitinger, for example, simulates the loss of control that comes with systems that hold decision-making power over human lives based on algorithms. The artwork features a machine that registers data about visitors at the push of a button and grants or denies them entry according to opaque criteria. Xara herself has been interested in the topic of borders from an early age. “I find it scary that people are increasingly reduced to data and no longer viewed as humans but as expenses. At the same time, there has been an encouraging shift in attitudes in the direction of solidarity: “You could say my work is not just a warning, but also an invitation – Take a look and then ask yourself: What has to change?”

Marlon Schiedeck chose a different topic that is no less relevant to our world. His comic “Anxious Encounters” reveals the inner reality of neurodivergent people by illustrating their thoughts and feelings in challenging situations. The story describes the meeting of two neurodivergent characters whose artistic creations are abused by a company selling algorithmic and AI works. They respond to this transgression of boundaries in diametrically opposed manners: While one character channels anger inwards and struggles with depression and self-doubt, the other directs rage outwards and publicly calls the company to account – and is fired accordingly. The pair end up supporting each other and sharing strategies for self-regulation.

Using a palette of lively colors, Marlon Schiedeck conveys an overstimulating world that cannot be experienced by neurotypical people. He also shows the challenges they do not have to face daily. “Initially, I thought about making a film, as I really wanted to bring across the sense of sensitivity to light and noise.” Ultimately, however, working with these vivid colors was highly enjoyable.

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Constant engagement with digital media can cause people to lose themselves in the virtual world. Given the incessant bombardment we face from social media and bad news from all over the world, it can be salutary to ground ourselves with the ‘small’ things in life. This was certainly the case with Xiangran Zeng: “My mother told me not to be looking at my computer or phone all the time, that I should learn to notice and observe the world around me.” This prompted her to discover quiet details of life, such as a dandelion seed stuck in a spider’s web, which served as the inspiration for her project “Common Life.” “The dandelion is such a common, everyday plant, yet it possesses an exceptional lifeforce.” So she digitally illustrated and animated three different dandelion seeds, whose journeys viewers can follow in the interactive artwork. The work contains messages about resilience, transformation, adaptation, and ultimately the meaning of life – messages that viewers can interpret and relate to in their own personal way.

Around half the course time in the Art and Multimedia program is dedicated to the development and realization of an individual project. While students are free to choose the style and methods they want to employ, they are closely supervised by their tutors. The focus, as throughout the degree program, is on interactivity and hybrid working. Students then organize the final exhibition on their own – from searching for a suitable venue and looking after the advertising and financing to the preparation and presentation of the artworks. “Conditional Entry,” “Anxious Encounters,” “Common Life,” and many other student projects will be on display at Einstein Kultur from 18 to 20 June. Another highlight: Some of the students were invited to exhibit their works at Ars Electronica this year, including Xara Beitinger.

Out of Sync:
This year's final exhibition for the Bachelor's program in Art and Multimedia will take place at EinsteinKultur from June 18 to 20.