Welcome to the Art Angle, a podcast from Artnet News that delves into the places where the art world meets the real world, bringing each week’s biggest story down to earth. Join us every week for an in-depth look at what matters most in museums, the art market, and much more, with input from our own writers and editors, as well as artists, curators, and other top experts in the field.
A tremendous amount of attention is being paid these days to NFTs and their whiplash market oscillations: good or bad, a flash in the pan or here to stay? But there’s an argument to be made that NFTs are actually, at best, a distraction from the real mind-blowing, totally profound, technological revolution that is poised to change art as we know it forever. And that is the rise of A.I. art. So what, exactly, is A.I. art, and is artificial intelligence here to help artists or to make them obsolete?
These are big, thorny questions—and it just so happens that there’s a brilliant essay on the topic at the heart of the brand new book by Artnet News chief art critic Ben Davis titled Art in the After-Culture: Capitalist Crisis and Cultural Strategy. Ben’s new book is a combination of traditional critical essays and speculative fiction, the kind of book filled with deep insights that will become a touchstone for future generations.
This week, Ben returns to the podcast to discuss the truly odd images he has conjured using one of the most popular A.I. art apps, and what the future of the art world might look like as the machines take over.
Image generated by AI art generator The Night Café from the text prompt “Ed Sheeran painted by Basquiat.”
Image generated by AI art generator The Night Café from the text prompt “Alexandra Daddario in the style of M.C. Escher.”
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