Ai-Da, the world’s first ultra-realistic AI humanoid robot artist, is to open her solo exhibition Unsecured Futures at Oxford University on 12th June 2019 following her completion in April 2019. The exhibition will also mark Ai-Da’s first public appearance and grand unveiling
Ai-Da, the invention of Gallery Director Aidan Meller, is the first ultra-realistic robot capable of drawing people from life using her eye and a pencil in her hand. Using AI processes and algorithms developed by scientists at Oxford University, Ai-Da’s ability to draw and paint from sight has never been achieved before and makes Ai-Da an artist in her own right.
Ai-Da’s solo exhibition will present a selection of Ai-Da’s artwork including drawing, painting, sculpture and video art. Thematically the exhibition questions our relationship with technology and the natural world by presenting how AI and new technologies can be simultaneously a progressive, disruptive and destructive force within our society.
The exhibition explores the boundaries between AI, technology, and organic life. As new technologies develop rapidly, our world is morphing in response – but what are those responses? To what degree is technology shaped in our own image, reflecting back to us our own impulses and needs? And more precisely – in whose image is it formed, and how does that impact in a highly diverse and unequal world?
Ai-Da the Artist
Ai-Da is a humanoid AI robot, with an arm that draws images from an inbuilt camera. Currently her medium is pencil and pen, and she creates sketches in a human style. She uses facial recognition technology to draw human faces, and she will also draw animals and plants. In time, she will use paint, and also clay to create pottery pieces. In addition to her drawing techniques, she is also a performance artist, taking part in art performances and art videos. She reads aloud using her own personal voice. As a humanoid robot, she is an art object in herself, raising issues surrounding biotechnology and trans-humanism.
The drawings included in the exhibition pay homage to a number of world-famous scientists, including Alan Turing and Ada Lovelace, who was the first female computer programmer in the world and is Ai-Da’s namesake. Ai-Da has portrayed them by using the camera located in her eye to scan images of the scientists and then sending messages to her robotic arm to map out their facial features on paper.
Aidan Meller, Gallery Director said, “Pioneering a new AI art movement, we are excited to present Ai-Da, the first professional humanoid artist, who creates her own art, as well as being a performance artist. As an AI robot, her artwork uses AI processes and algorithms. The work engages us to think about AI and technological uses and abuses in the world today.”
Lucy Seal, Researcher and Curator for the project said: “We are looking forward to the conversation Ai-Da sparks in audiences. A measure of her artistic potential and success will be the discussion she inspires. Engaging people so we feel empowered to re-imagine our attitudes to organic life and our futures is a major aim of the project.”
Visit: www.ai-darobot.com
EXHIBITION
Address: St John’s College, The Barn Gallery, St Giles, Oxford OX1 3JP
Dates: Wednesday 12th June – Saturday 6th July
Opening Times: 10am – 5pm daily
About Aidan Meller
Ai-Da is the brainchild of Aidan Meller – a specialist in modern and contemporary art and runs a gallery from Oxford and London. With 20 years’ experience in the art business, he works closely with private collectors and is often consulted by those who wish to begin, or further develop their collections. He regularly has original works in the gallery by the likes of Picasso, Matisse, Chagall, to older works such as John Constable, Turner and Millais. Aidan recently appeared on a TV programme called Money and Me on a Sky channel and interviewed by Elite Investment for the 1% Club, both to do with investing in Art.
