Digital Art: New Tools, Limitless Possibilities
When the NFT hype began in early 2021, a new age of digital art seemed to be dawning. Three years later, non fungible tokens barely figure, at least in public discourse. It's like so many phenomena spawned by digital transformation: just as quickly as they become the next big thing, they disappear. Meanwhile, the development of digital art, which is far more than NFTs and began long before they existed, continues - artists are using digital tools to create new art forms that have the potential to stay.
I didn't stand up and say I wanted to make digital art. As is so often the case, it's a process in response to the reality of our lives," explains Jonas Blume. He uses digital technologies to create videos, sculptures and immersive installations. His work was featured in the exhibition 'PENDORAN VINCI. Art and Artificial Intelligence Today' at the NRW Forum in Düsseldorf. For Blume, digitalisation in art continues a development that has been going on for centuries: "It is an age-old story that artists adopt new technologies and media to use in their work. Digitalisation has also produced many new tools in a very short time: computers, digital cameras, smartphones". Each invention is an expansion of possibilities. He does not believe that other art forms will become less important: "The camera has not wiped out painting, just as digital art will not mean that no one is interested in engraving. It's about externalising a vision and making it tangible. For me, it's about finding a tool to express what I want to express.
Jonas Blume uses digital technologies to create videos, sculptures and installations.
Just like in Bodies. For the video simulation, Blume had an "average face" generated from the first 50 Google image suggestions for his person. He transferred this into a 3D model and placed it on a modelled body derived from average human values for height, weight and other parameters. Blume duplicated the artificial figure and had two armies of identical characters run towards each other. The result is a confusing battle that raises questions: Who is the opponent? Is it a battle against itself, an internal conflict being fought out? "There are so many virtual versions of us, on LinkedIn, on dating apps. We take on different roles that we jump between and combine at the same time. I'm interested in how all these facets and the interactions we have virtually interact with each other, how they affect our real lives. That's what I wanted to portray," explains Blume, whose work repeatedly explores the impact of AI, algorithms and digital technologies on the individual.
As children of the 90s, the artist duo Banz & Bowinkel came to digital art via electronic music: "If you were part of the techno culture, this aesthetic connection was obvious. But computergenerated images as an artistic position hardly existed at that time. At first we were still collaging and relying on the material available online. That's why we started to learn the software ourselves so that we could produce our own digital images," explains Giulia Bowinkel. "It was also very exciting to explore this new virtual continent and find out what you could do with the computer. We asked ourselves: if this is the tool that is going to change our whole society, how can we create the right images to go with it?
Impressive images: Two armies of identical characters clash in the video simulation "Bodies".
Banz & Bowinkel have been working with AR in art for ten years.
One of Banz & Bowinkel's focuses is augmented reality, to which they have dedicated several works since 2014. One of these was shown as part of the AR Biennale at the NRW Forum Düsseldorf in 2023. In the Hofgarten, visitors were able to immerse themselves in the AR environment Generative Composition via smartphone - "primitives", the basic forms of every 3D programme, appeared before their eyes: "Primitives lead a generative life of their own, they grow, jump, fly and consume each other. The series is a bit like the vocabulary of parametric shapes. You change a few settings and a capsule becomes a ring, a sphere or something else. You can't get much more virtual and abstract than that," says Giulia Bowinkel.
What does the future of digital art look like? Friedemann Banz prefers to look at what is already here: "Nobody saw NFTs coming, except those who made them. The same goes for AI. I think it's pointless to think about what's coming, because it's going to be different anyway. It would be much more worthwhile to move away from this technological debate, from faster, higher, further, and instead clarify questions of content: What is the core of the technology and what can you do with it? We would like to see more depth! •
“For me, it’s about finding a tool to express what I want to express.”
Immerse yourself in AR art: "Generative Composition" in the Hofgarten in Düsseldorf.
Words: Dominik Deden
Pictures: Jonas Blume, Banz & Bowinkel