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A series of works / 2020

AI Am I?

Artworks and fictional museum labels made through exchanges between people and AI.

Year: 2020
Medium: Sculpture, painting, generative text, mixed media
Filed under: Artificial intelligence ↗
Works: 37 individual works

Six black plungers with progressively taller wooden handles stand on a white wall shelf. — A Short History of Plungers and Other Things That Go Plunge in the Night — installation view. Photo: Yubo Dong / ofstudio photography.

About the series

AI Am I? brings together artworks and museum-style labels made through exchanges between Alexander Reben, AI systems, and fabricators. Reben uses prompts to generate descriptions of imagined works, then selects passages to develop. A description can become a physical object made by Reben or another fabricator, or pass through an image generator before being realized.

The direction can also reverse. An existing human-made artwork, an AI-generated image, or another object can become the starting point for a new AI description. Reben curates material through repeated exchanges, testing different routes between language, images, and objects.

The accompanying labels extend the experiment into interpretation: their accounts of artistic intention, artist identities, birthplaces, and dates may all be invented. These narratives remain part of the artwork.

In this series / 37 works

Individual works.

Six black plungers with progressively taller wooden handles stand on a white wall shelf.

A Short History of Plungers and Other Things That Go Plunge in the Night

Artificial intelligence

Front view of a dense circular field of yellow-headed pins extending from a small square canvas.

The Final Resting Place of the Queen Bee

Artificial intelligence

Three-quarter view of the electronic-component assemblage on a white plinth.

Harmonious Disarray

Artificial intelligence / Sculpture

An orange extension cord is coiled on a low white plinth, with one plug extending toward the wall.

user adversary: extension cord

Sculpture

A potted cactus in a mirrored cube rests on a flat screen showing repeated, reflected film imagery.

Delusions of a Time-Traveling Cactus

Sculpture / Artificial intelligence

A dark tapestry depicts two castles, a large golden orb, branching trees and pale animals crossing an intricate landscape.

Lanterns of the Whispering Woods

Artificial intelligence

A dark tapestry shows a pagoda above wooded slopes, pale streams and small creatures, with round lights suspended across the sky.

Twilight Wanderers in the Kingdom of Enchantment

Artificial intelligence

A stained-glass panel combines blue arcs, amber circles, red accents, and a symmetrical central vertical form.

The Ascendance of the Digital Divine

Artificial intelligence / Sculpture

Seven rows of translucent bears glow in rainbow colors on a purple-lit plinth.

The Inedible Spectrum

Artificial intelligence / Sculpture

A tall freestanding tower of brightly colored interlocking forms stands on a white platform.

Permanent Temporary

Artificial intelligence / Sculpture

A wall-mounted assemblage combines green roof shingles, two metal grab bars, handcuffs and a glowing light.

Ceci N’est Pas Une Barriere

Artificial intelligence / Sculpture

A black split-flap clock mounted on a can of Dinty Moore beef stew.

Time to Eat (Black Forest Steak Red #9)

Artificial intelligence / Sculpture

A black ceramic ring with an orange inner opening on a clear stand against a blue wall.

Museum Donut: Ode to the Void

Artificial intelligence / Sculpture

A black four-footed cane supports a circular arrangement of keys and metallic ribbons.

Keys to Lasting Youth

Artificial intelligence / Sculpture

A hollow cork form densely covered with metal pins on a circular white base.

Resonance of Tranquil Eternities

Artificial intelligence / Sculpture

A tall multi-tiered trophy topped with medals balances on a tower of wooden game blocks.

Precarious Hierarchies and the Paradox of Participation

Artificial intelligence / Sculpture

A white door covered with hundreds of projecting spring doorstops stands open in the gallery.

Stop, Door Stop

Artificial intelligence / Sculpture / Interaction

A collage of brightly colored paper fragments surrounds a paperback book cover.

My Kid Could Do That!

Artificial intelligence

Two elongated figures stand across a small table in a yellow room with blue doorways and scattered furniture parts.

Billy and Malm Have an Argument About Putting Together a Lack Side Table and Decide to Get a Divorce

Artificial intelligence

A square painting shows concentric white and orange circles above a semicircle of dark round forms.

The Solar Dance

Artificial intelligence

Full framed portrait of a figure with a yellow perforated face, blue hat, and orange patterned suit.

Dreams of the Cheese-Faced Gentleman

Artificial intelligence

Full framed painting of five formally dressed fox-headed figures standing in a forest.

The Council of Foxes

Artificial intelligence

A gold-framed painting depicts figures seated around a dining table in front of an orange-lit window.

The Dining Window

Artificial intelligence

Three-quarter view of the dark bronze bust with a tall blade-like projection beside a window.

The Sentinel of Memory in the Valley of Vulnerability

Artificial intelligence / Sculpture

A painting of a face with two large ears, a nose, teeth and a spotted tongue, photographed straight on.

The Resonance of Silence

Artificial intelligence

Full view of a surreal painting of enlarged eyes, ears, and intertwined organic forms.

The Vortex of Perception

Artificial intelligence

An ear-like white marble sculpture photographed against a dark background.

Ear We Go Again

Artificial intelligence / Sculpture

Nine square panels of repeated manufactured objects hang in a three-by-three grid on a white wall.

Unraveling Mechanism

Artificial intelligence / Sculpture

Long connected chains of brass hinges arranged in winding paths on a white plinth.

Unity in Motion

Artificial intelligence / Sculpture

Large yellow, pink, red, and blue graffiti forms fill a green freestanding gallery wall.

SK7

Artificial intelligence

Three woven tapestries showing a skull, an imaginary landscape, and a cloaked figure hang side by side on a turquoise wall.

The Ethereal Passage

Artificial intelligence / Generative

A grid and scattered colored dots cover a photograph of an empty white room, with a German sentence along the bottom.

Je mehr Dinge Sie sehen, desto mehr können Sie vergessen

Artificial intelligence

Red zippers crisscross a white canvas, with round white tags bearing a red I attached to their pulls.

I

Artificial intelligence

A vertical canvas has blue, pink-and-black and green painted sections separated by white bands with looping pale glue lines.

Asymmetry in Accommodation

Artificial intelligence

A turquoise floppy disk with a crossed-out copyright symbol appears below pink Do Copy That Floppy lettering on a neon grid.

Do Copy That Floppy

Artificial intelligence

A long silver-colored chain decorated with orange and black cable ties forms looping rows on a wooden floor.

Chain

Artificial intelligence

A drawing on white paper arranges black spirals and geometric shapes with red and blue circles and the words Domus Dei and Noli tangere.

The Final Word

Artificial intelligence

Exhibitions

2023–2024
AI Am I?
The Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
CV ↗
2023
Delusions of a Time-Traveling Cactus
bitforms Gallery, New York, NY
CV ↗

AI Am I? — project videoWatch on YouTube ↗

Six black plungers with progressively shorter wooden handles stand in a row on a white plinth. — A Short History of Plungers and Other Things That Go Plunge in the Night — installation at the Crocker Art Museum

Front view of a dense circular field of yellow-headed pins extending from a small square canvas. — The Final Resting Place of the Queen Bee — installation view

Three-quarter view of the dark bronze bust with a tall blade-like projection beside a window. — The Sentinel of Memory in the Valley of Vulnerability — installation view

A grid and scattered colored dots cover a photograph of an empty white room, with a German sentence along the bottom. — Je mehr Dinge Sie sehen, desto mehr können Sie vergessen

Red zippers crisscross a white canvas, with round white tags bearing a red I attached to their pulls. — I

A black four-footed cane supports a circular arrangement of keys and metallic ribbons. — Keys to Lasting Youth — installation view

A collage of brightly colored paper fragments surrounds a paperback book cover. — My Kid Could Do That! — installation view

Angled close-up of the yellow-headed pins extending from the canvas. — The Final Resting Place of the Queen Bee — detail

A vertical canvas has blue, pink-and-black and green painted sections separated by white bands with looping pale glue lines. — Asymmetry in Accommodation

Close view of raised pale glue loops on a white band between thick pink, black and green paint. — Asymmetry in Accommodation — detail

A turquoise floppy disk with a crossed-out copyright symbol appears below pink Do Copy That Floppy lettering on a neon grid. — Do Copy That Floppy

AI-generated wall label for Do Copy That Floppy. — Do Copy That Floppy — AI-generated wall label. Its artist identity and date belong to the fictional narrative.

Close view of three red zipper pulls carrying round tags marked I, with yellow stitching visible on the zipper tape. — I — detail

Angled detail of the fine black grid and small colored dots over the image of a white room. — Je mehr Dinge Sie sehen, desto mehr können Sie vergessen — detail

A long silver-colored chain decorated with orange and black cable ties forms looping rows on a wooden floor. — Chain

Close view of orange and black cable ties attached to the links of a chain on a wooden floor. — Chain — detail

A drawing on white paper arranges black spirals and geometric shapes with red and blue circles and the words Domus Dei and Noli tangere. — The Final Word

Close view of the spiral, diamond, circles, and handwritten Latin words in The Final Word. — The Final Word — detail

An oblique view of the cane, key ring, and metallic ribbons. — Keys to Lasting Youth — installation view