Swedish museum exhibits sculpture created by AI

A Swedish museum exhibits “the impossible statue”, a work created by programs of Artificial Intelligence (AI) trained by the creations of five sculptors, including Michelangelo, Rodin and Takamura.

“It is a true statue created by five different masters who could never have collaborated in real life,” Pauliina Lunde, a spokeswoman for Sandvik, the company that conceived the sculpture through three AI programs, told AFP.

The work, exhibited at the Stockholm Museum of Technology, is made of stainless steel, measures 150 cm high and weighs 500 kg. She represents a woman with half of her body covered by a kind of tunic, holding a bronze globe in her left hand.

The idea was to create a mix with the styles of five famous sculptors, who marked their time: Michelangelo (Italy, 1475-1564), Auguste Rodin (France, 1840-1917), Käthe Kollwitz (Germany, 1867-1945), Kotaro Takamura (Japan, 1883-1956) and Augusta Savage (United States, 1892-1962).

“There is something strange about its appearance, one can feel that it was not created by a human being,” said Julia Olderius, head of innovation at the museum.

The musculature is inspired by Michelangelo and the hand is reminiscent of those created by Takamura.

To create the work, Sandvik engineers fed the AI ​​systems endless images of sculptures developed by these artists.

The show then proposed various 2D images that they felt reflected key aspects of each of the artists.

“Our engineers integrated these 2D images into a 3D model, and from there we focused on manufacturing,” Olderius explained.

When viewing the sculpture, the question that stands out is whether it is a work of art.

For Olderius it is, although he believes that it is the public that must decide.

He was also optimistic about the more general issue of the emergence of artificial intelligence in art.

“We shouldn’t be afraid of what AI is doing with creativity, concept, art and design,” he claimed.

“I just think we have to adapt to a new future”in which technology occupies a full place in creation and design.