eMusings

Your eyes and ears on the worlds of art, culture, technology, philosophy - whatever stimulates the mind and excites the imagination. We remind you that 20 years of back issues of eMusings can be found on our archives page.

Once more, with fascination, we highlight AI in text and imaging. AI has now replaced 3D printing, at least temporarily, as the darling of the newswires:

The fashion industry, no shy violet, has just offered the First-ever A.I. Fashion Week. It is called "The Future of Everything".

Open A.I.'s huge appetite for data is now facing issues of data protection laws, particularly in Europe. Possible consequences include fines, deletion of data, or total banishment.

The CEO of ChatGPT, Sam Altman, is now saying that using giant AI models is no longer valid. Instead we must look for more innovative ways to employ the technology. On the opposing side are companies like Anthropic, AI21, Cohere, and Character AI which are constructing ever larger data pools while acknowledging that researchers need to explore other options.

In the U.S., officials at the commerce department are asking for feedback so that accountability, privacy, and transparency can be regulated.

Meta is developing a new algorithm like ChatGPT to understand the language of proteins The new algorithm has already become fluent in 700 million proteins. These proteins exist in viruses, bacteria, and other microorganisms, but remain a mystery to scientists. The understanding of proteins could be used to teach other AI programs and could also be used to design things like antibiotics, biofuels, enzymes and possibly completely new organisms.

Researchers are trying to connect multiple AI models to enable more "autonomous" AI. These new autonomous agents could conceivably develop a website or newsletter, write its own code, act without human intervention, and correct its own errors.

The Technology Review from MIT examines 3 ways that LLMs (Large Language Models) present a security risk as they are being widely embedded into consumer products. The severity of the risks is being called a potential disaster.

A judge in Columbia admits that he has used Chat GPT to apply the law in his ruling on a case involving medical reimbusement for an autistic boy.

Now on to other brain and eye adventures:

A dark and dank series of underground tunnels has been transformed by the refracted color spectacles of artist Kimsooja. Covering 4,400 square meters, the area is offered each year to an artist who can create a site-specific installation for the space. Kimsooja, a Korean conceptual artist, has installed "Weaving the Light" in an 8-month exhibition. The artist mounts clear film under archways to capture the light of vibrating spectrums of color shot through them onto the floor and surrounding walls. Adding to the visual excitement are the shadows from human visitors which create a spontaneous choreography.

Feast your eyes on some experiments in architecture models as CAD/CAM studies expand their vision. See espcially the concept design done in 2021 for an opera house and the design for a virtual music stage, as well as the temporary dancing stage.

A new exhibition in Milan looks skyward for its "It All Comes From Above" show. You will find a glass light installation, a dynamic glass cloud,, glass-domed lamps with metal arms, and mushroom-like Symbioosa lamps.

Each year in Wellington, New Zealand, an extravagant display of wearables and costumes takes place. Begun 32 years ago, the show's archives now include more than 5,000 garments. You can wonder at the imaginative marvels created for this year's competition and then peruse the website of the competition itself.

Cecily Brown apparently has set the art world buzzing at her Metropolitan Museum of Art installation. One critic described it as an "oestrogen-fuelled, generational-shifting thrill, artistically and socially”. Another noted her "spectre of beautiful women flirting with death". At one point Brown's Father warned her not to move to New York, convinced that she would be attacked and robbed. Her first jobs in that city included a waitress, working at a farmer's market, and for a while avoiding painting, until the city itself became her inspiration. Be sure to visit the artist's own site for a closer look at her disruptive and energetic compositions.

The Art Held Foundation is presenting "Luminous Constructs", created by the artist between 1985 and 2005. It is worth roaming through the site to see the range of Held's works, including public art, drawings, and watercolors.

Christie's Auction House introduces us to the beauty of Islamic calligraphy, an art form that has brought the world of writing to a level of fine art.. The Islamic calligraphy seems to have played a significant role in showing the beauty and power of the idea of Allah, making the objects both religious elements and forms of great beauty. The article goes on to explain the depth and elegance of the calligraphy and its emergence into abstract art.

Christie's also presents the mystical paintings of Remedios Varo, the surrealist painter who was named after a Catholic saint. Varo was originally named Maria de los Remedios Vary y Uranga when she was born in a small town in Spain. The artist spent much of her life moving from place to place, resulting in a sense of displacement in her works. She was able to take her place in a surreaist world dominated by men, whose 1924 manifesto excluded women entirely. Her harrowing and haunting images are exceptionally compelling.

Ignant bring us some rather fascinating imagery apparently designed as commercial products. You will find some elegant and imaginative ideas here, with the emphasis on severe beauty. The Shift Automotive sculpture is particularly evocative, as is the HP floating filament.

Feast your eyes on the Getty Museum's collection of beautiful dragons. Elements of both saints and devils inhabit these images, along with elegant writing, tempera colors and gold ink.

Ferrari, known best for its outstanding automobiles, has ventured into a forward-looking line of clothing. You might not wear these to your local grocery store, but it is hard to imagine a more sensuously beautiful line of garments.

Marguerite Humeau is a French visual artist who creates biomorphic other-worldly sculptures that seem to live in a world of both science fiction and advanced medical technology. Her unearthly and sensuous forms seduce us into a world of magic and mystery, impossible to resist, difficult to explain, and powerful in their effect.

c. Corinne Whitaker 2023