BMW presents this year’s edition of ‘BMW Art Club. The Future is Art”. For the fifth instalment of its flagship art initiative, the brand has invited the NOVIKI studio to collaborate. Created by them, THE DREAM OF THE MACHINE is a multi-layered story about AI’s hallucinations, its dreams and human dreams. Crossing the boundary between technology and humans, the project prompts reflection on the creative potential of artificial intelligence.
The partner of this year’s BMW Art Club is the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Krakow. THE MACHINE’S DREAM will be available to the public from 28 June to 31 August 2024.
“I dream of the garden of the future”
“BMW Art Club. The Future is Art” has been focusing on the intersections between art and new technologies since 2018 – exploring the effects of combining creative imagination with the precision of advanced technologies. This year’s installment tackles the potential of the creative side of artificial intelligence.
The starting point for NOVIKI studio’s MACHINE SEN project is AI hallucinations. This is a phenomenon that involves algorithms generating responses that have no basis in the data with which they have been fed. They take various forms: references to non-existent books by real authors, surreal images or created events. Hallucinations of algorithms are often treated as a system error, a technological glitch. NOVIKI in THE DREAM OF THE MACHINE looks at this phenomenon by comparing it to human dreaming. Dreaming too is a creative interpretation, and sometimes over-interpretation, of data.
– The aim of the BMW Art Club is to show the interplay between contemporary art and new technologies. Technology has always helped us shape reality, while art allows us to understand it and build emotional ties with it. This year we are showing the interpenetration of these two orders in an artistic way. And also that technology, paradoxically, can help us get closer to nature instead of isolating us from it,” says Kacper Studencki, BMW Marketing Director in Poland.
Traditionally, BMW joins forces with Poland’s leading cultural institution to jointly offer an innovative cultural event. THE DREAM OF THE MACHINE is taking place simultaneously at two points in Krakow. The first is the MOS exhibition space of the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre (12 Rajska Street), where the film essay is presented in the form of a multimedia exhibition developed by NOVIKI. The second is the garden of the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre (4 Holy Spirit Square), which will be revitalised by Krakow’s green architects according to the artists’ concept.
Dreamlike film essay
The film essay THE DREAM OF THE MACHINE takes the form of a multimedia immersive exhibition, filling the MOS exhibition space of the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre. NOVIKI have combined sequences shot on set with hallucinatory algorithms. This is not an image created by artificial intelligence, but a film about it, realised using its potentials. Intelligent data processing systems are both the protagonist of the film and the subject of the artists’ research.
The narrative of the essay is structured as a journey that takes place in both physical space and dream reality. The narrator/narrator of the film also has a fluid identity – a character who leads us through the threads developed in A MACHINE’S DREAM. These include both the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre, treated as a metaphor for a dream factory, and the garden – a place for the creation of creations that cross the boundary between the biological and the technological.
– By exploring the relationship between human consciousness and artificial intelligence, NOVIKI speaks to the key civilisational debate of the present day. Traditional technological advances have been used to construct instruments that allow humans to move faster, communicate more efficiently, produce more efficiently, see more accurately, count more precisely. Artificial intelligence is the first technology that, in the not-too-distant future, may be able to think with us and even co-sense with us. It is possible that it can already create and dream,” says Stach Szabłowski, curator of the ‘BMW Art Club. The Future is Art’.
Cybernetic garden
“I dream of the garden of the future,” replies the titular machine in the film essay. Her dream is realised in reality, as the second element of THE MACHINE’S DREAM is a sound experience in the green garden space of the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre at Holy Spirit Square. This is a hidden place in the very centre of Krakow, so far closed to the public. As part of this year’s BMW Art Club, the garden will be revitalised and opened for the duration of the project. To arrange it, NOVIKI invited Kuba Kulesza – an agrocyberneticist associated with the interdisciplinary expert collective Grupa Robocza, who deals with the theory and practice of design based on the synergy of technological and natural elements. The garden was designed by the green architect Anna Gałecka-Drozda. It will be a green oasis offering an artistic experience in a place that offers respite from the hustle and bustle of the city and allows free reflection on the changes in civilisation.
The augmented reality of SNU MACHINE
Augmented reality becomes the element that connects the dream machine from the film essay with the real experience in the garden at Holy Spirit Square. Thanks to it, event participants will be able to see their faces transformed by hallucinatory AI. The subject of transformation also becomes the all-electric BMW i7 limousine presented in an artistic form prepared by NOVIKI. The top model in the brand’s portfolio is an example of how innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence are shaping every area of life, including individual mobility. The model offers the largest selection of driving automation systems in the BMW range comprehensively supporting the driver, who can easily communicate with the vehicle via voice commands.
The artistic collective of the future
NOVIKI is a studio set up by a duo of graduates of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Katarzyna Nestorowicz and Marcin Nowicki. In their creative practice, they combine visual arts with research into the impact of technology on culture. They regularly collaborate with renowned artistic and scientific institutions (including the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Nowy Teatr, Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague, Chelsea College of Arts, St. Andrews University, National Taipei University of Technology in Taiwan). They are involved in international research teams such as Traces and Technology, led by the TRACTS programme, and SPACE-Gov, a cross-sector project to develop a network of experts in space management.
– Our practice is often based on teamwork. We see the inclusion of AI as an extension of this collaborative philosophy. In the context of AI, we no longer use the term ‘tool’, we increasingly refer to it as a partner in the creative process; broadening horizons, providing a completely different perspective. At the Dream of the Machine, this collaboration takes place on every level: in our work with the acting troupe of the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre or in the design of the garden at Holy Spirit Square,” say NOVIKI, Katarzyna Nestorowicz and Marcin Nowicki.
People from many fields were involved in the preparation of SNU MASZYNA. The acting troupe of the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre performed in a film essay and gave the dreams a human form. Green architects created a garden revitalisation project, aesthetically alluding to the style and themes of the film essay. Programmers and technologists ensured that the entire project was of the highest technological quality. Artificial intelligence algorithms hallucinated every element of the experience.
The music and sound design of SNU MASZYNA was realised by ZoiMichailova, an audio artist, composer and DJ on the club scene performing as Facheroia. Michailova is associated with the queer-feminist collective KEM and the Centre for Inclusive Art Teatr 21. She has collaborated with leading art institutions (including the Centre for Contemporary Art – Ujazdowski Castle, the Museum of Modern Art) and festivals (Warszawa w Budowie, Ephemera, Malta Festival Poznań).
New dimension of partnership. BMW joins forces with Juliusz Słowacki Theatre
The Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Kraków is a special co-creator of THE MACHINE’S SNOW. Theatre actresses and actors Lidia Bogaczówna, Marta Konarska, Daniel Malchar and Antek Sztaba took part in the production of the film essay. The historic interiors of the Theatre building, which became one of the protagonists of the story, were also used in the filming. Erected at the end of the 19th century, the monumental building, rich in ornaments, is today one of the most valuable monuments in Europe. At the same time, it is the seat of one of the most interesting cultural institutions in Krakow.
The film essay in the exhibition space of the MOS Juliusz Słowacki Theatre and the garden and sound experience at Holy Spirit Square will be available daily from 28 June to 31 August 2024 from 10:00 to 21:00.
BMW, as organiser, is providing all elements of the event free of charge.
For more information about ‘BMW Art Club. The future is art’ can be found on the website:
https://www.bmw.pl/art-club.
About the artists
NOVIKI combine visual arts with research on the impact of technology on culture in their practice. They create graphic, multimedia and video projects, carry out curatorial projects, and engage in theory and education. Their versatile and innovative approach to issues at the borderline of science and art has won them recognition in Poland and abroad. NOVIKI regularly collaborate with renowned artistic and scientific institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Nowy Teatr, Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague, Chelsea College of Arts, St. Andrews University, National Taipei University of Technology in Taiwan. They participate in panel discussions, conduct consultations and workshops, and are participants in international research teams such as Traces and Technology, led by the TRACTS programme, and SPACE-Gov, a cross-sector project to develop a network of experts in space management.
About BMW Art Club. The future is art
The project “BMW Art Club. The Future is Art” is part of the brand’s more than 50-year tradition of global commitment to patronage by supporting and creating culture. BMW is known worldwide for its partnerships with leading institutions (the Tate Modern museum in London or the La Scala opera house in Milan) and events (the Art Basel art fair). The BMW Art Club. The future is art was initiated by BMW in 2018 in Poland. The projects carried out as part of the initiative focus on the intersections between art and new technologies, and show that completely new values are created from the combination of creative freedom, imagination and the precision of advanced technologies. In previous editions, artistic collaborators have included Boris Kudlička, Witek Orski with the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice, Michael Hansmeyer and the Marshmallow Laser Feast studio. Subsequent iterations of the project are carried out in collaboration with Poland’s most important cultural institutions. To date, these have included the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice, the Grand Theatre – National Opera, the Nowy Theatre in Warsaw and the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Kraków.
About the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre
The Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Kraków is the city’s most prestigious building and has been delighting visitors with its architecture since 1893. Variety of styles, unique interiors, curtains. Three stages. A place of firsts, debuts, birth of art trends and great talents. Nowadays, one of the most important theatre stages in Poland, a place that is a symbol of freedom of speech and artistic expression. Performances that delight audiences and win significant awards. Member of Perspectiv – Association of Historic Theatres in Europe.
ORGANISER: BMW
PARTNER: Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Kraków
TECHNOLOGY PARTNER: EIDOTECH POLSKA
MEDIA PATRONS: Vogue Polska, Chilli ZET, Label Magazine, Forbes, Forbes Women, Newsweek, Onet, Noizz
PRODUCTION: Sto Lampartów_kultura
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