Cape Town - Using artificial intelligence (AI) art to draw attention to climate change, Under Water World is an AI art exhibition, conceived by architect Don Albert of Sound Space Design, which explores a future world shaped by the convergence of AI and the impact of climate catastrophes.
In a series of 38 hand-painted and digitally created works, Albert aims to explore the potential of AI for the creation of fine art, world-building, character design, architecture, city-planning, and literature.
Albert charts a course through 12 imaginary undersea worlds, each with its own story. Narrated through accompanying poems, this was to “raise questions about environmental ethics; what it means to be human; authorship; and AI’s strong reliance on the history of art and literature as a reservoir of enduring stereotypes”.
“I grew up on a farm in KZN. We lived by the beach and my sister and I used to play this game building sand castles on the waters edge, we’d build these elaborate structures, knowing the waves were gonna come and crash them down, we’d get very excited.
We called the game, Bad Conditions. What’s going on in the world now are real bad conditions; it’s not a game anymore,” said Albert.
He loves painting and said the body of work was inspired while covering bush fires in Australia as a journalist in 2020.
“I was researching a story of recovery of one of the bush fires. I went to a town called Cobargo to interview people there.
“On that trip I got caught in a fire and ended up having to sleep in my car on the beach because the evacuation centres were full. I saw the sky above me completely orange, the sea was red, the beach was red and there was this white line in between. The fires in Australia inspired me to start painting again,” he said.
He explains he was further inspired by the work of architect Étienne-Louis Boullée for the futuristic utopian thinking that came through his designs.
Albert said he was also heavily influenced by the idea of “architectural thinking” where humans believe they’re in control of nature but aiming for strong structural designs that can withstand the potential of destruction by the elements.
“The real problem is, we are carbon addicts. With the birth of AI, the media put a lot of focus on it as a threat to humanity, so I thought how can we combine AI with climate change in the art area, to get the message out.”
Albert said together with sorting waste, people also needed to start fostering political agency both personally and collectively.
“The exhibition so far, has been received very well, it’s amazing to see the interest of so many people.”
The exhibition, on at 78 Hout Street, Cape Town, is free and open to the public until Wednesday.
Twenty percent of proceeds from the sale of art will go to the Seachange project, a team of media and science professionals who use storytelling for ocean protection.
Cape Times