Nov 222024
scotteaton
May 282024
TITLE: Perpetual Now (two figures), excerpt
MEDIUM: Digital (video + machine learning)
RESOLUTION: 4k, vertical, 60fps
DURATION: 6:40, seamlessly looping
DATE: 2022
Apr 232024
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Apr 082024
TITLE: Crossings I (Shibuya), Istanbul edit
MEDIUM: Digital, 4k, 30fps
DURATION: 45 seconds
DATE: 2024
The first in a series of works highlighting our ubiquitous loss of privacy to public surveillance, here hijacking a public webcam pointed at Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo. Unknowing participants create a data painting/collage with their bodies as they go about their daily routines. The work uses the current state-of-the-art in AI/machine learning tracking algorithms to identify and follow people in the crowd – each person assigned an ID and probability that they are human (displayed on the bottom of the screen at the start and end). Coloration is derived from their direction of movement, length of time that they have been identified and tracked, and their alogrithmic “humanness”.
This excerpt was designed for a daily take-over of the screens at Istanbul IGA Airport in April 2024.
Apr 032024
click for larger
Apr 022024
TITLE: Intersections
MEDIUM: Digital (machine learning, animation)
RESOLUTION: Various (4k wide, 4k tall, 8k ultra-tall, 8k ultra-wide)
DURATION: 3minutes, looping
DATE: 2023
Mar 102024
I have a new work debuting at the Alon Zakaim Gallery in central London in April. This exhibition pairs contemporary artists (me and others, mostly painters) with works from 20th century artists – Picasso, Dali, Chagall, etc – and asks us to react with a new, contemporary take.
I am paired with a larger than life-sized alabaster bust from Jaume Plensa, a Spanish artist known for his large scale portraits, often compressed in one dimension. My ‘reaction’ is a moving image piece – an aging, kaleidoscopic, digital portrait that borrows stylistic elements from early 20th century art movements (cubism, constructivism) and remixes these with a recipe of photogrammetry, digital sculpture, machine learning and rendering. The work – flat, colorful, evolving and ephemeral – is a counterpoint to the static, polished, ageless bust of Plensa. Hopefully when appreciated together, they contrast and compliment each other, sparking conversation. Images to follow after the opening.
Curated by Virginia Damtsa
Feb 202024
TITLE: Spherical Enumeration
MEDIUM: Laser-fused polyamide
DIMENSION: 33x33x30 cm
DATE: 2022
Exploring the idea of a spherical zoetrope (a physical impossiblity). Here animating an abstracted figure cyclically standing, kneeling, and raising arms, abstracted through one of my experimental ‘geometry’ neural networks (used also in Intersections. The sculpture above is an excerpt from the animation.
Nov 162023
Talking about the making of Spherical Enumeration
I recently gave a talk at the VIEW Conference, in Turin, titled:
Out of Distribution: Thriving Creatively in the Age of AI
The talk gives my current take on the state of AI and how we, as artists and creatives, need to think about situating our work in relationship to this ever-more-disruptive technology. (the talk now available on-demand on the VIEW Conference’s plaform here). The talk blurb:
In this densely illustrated talk, Scott explores how we can maximize our human creative potential in the face of the tidal wave of capabilities from the latest AI tools. He explores the trajectory of the field of AI, covering the critical ideas that have led us to where we are now. He asks the question on everyone’s mind – what space will be left for artists and creatives as more powerful AI inevitably arrives, and how should we think about situating our work and careers in the face of this constantly accelerating technology? Scott showcases his recent projects and gives examples and anecdotes from his own work with machine learning over the past seven years, including a behind-the-scenes look at his recent takeover of Times Square.
Talking about the importance of drawing in one’s creative practice. Mini-me and large me, juxtaposed.
Nov 102023
TITLE: Entangled II
MEDIUM: Digital (photography, high-speed video, machine learning / AI)
RESOLUTION: 4k, vertical
DURATION: 5:00
DATE: 2019
Investigating the proposition that the sinuous, overlapping curves of viscous fluid flows match the folds, contours and overlaps of the human figure. The work takes high-speed video of paint in water and processes it through a custom neutral network (my “BODIES” network) to elicit continually evolving, rebirthing, almost human forms. The work plays with preception and our human-brains’ wiring for pareidolia – seeing and recognising things, especially human forms, in random objects.
ENTANGLED II, excerpt
Jul 022023
I recently presented a new talk titled “Inside Pandora’s Box: Bodies, Geometry and Internet-scale Intrigue” for Google. Here’s the description:
Intersections on the Living Canvas, Dublin
“In this richly visual presentation, Scott takes us on a journey through five years of creative experimentation with machine learning and AI in his artistic practice. He shares the progression of his projects, from initial sketches and concepts to fully realized artistic pieces, recalling the iterations, side quests and failures along the way. Scott concludes by delving into ‘internet-scale’ models, revealing intriguing cultural artifacts discovered within CLIP networks and Stable Diffusion. While recognizing the immense potential AI offers to artists, he also worries for the future of creative employment and the blind spots inherent in the technology.”
I’ll try to share some of the content and interesting experiments here soon. If you’re out there and interested in this talk for your org, please get in touch. Finally – the banner image teases a new work, Intersections, that is having it’s international debut in Time Square, NYC for the month of August 2023. More details on that soon.
Mar 222023
I am excited to be running a series of figure drawing workshops for the Victoria & Albert Museum in conjunction with their landmark Donatello, Sculpting the Renaissance exhibition. The first workshop has passed, and was great fun, but we will be running a second workshop on Saturday, June 10th (the day before the Donatello exhibition closes). I give an introduction to drawing digitally (ipads/apple pencils) and cover some anatomical fundamentals before we explore the impressive sculpture collection at the V&A – works from Rodin, Canova, Leighton, Dalou, Giambologna, and others.
V&A Cast Court
We end with a long afternoon drawing session in the museum’s fabled Cast Courts. If you haven’t been to the Cast Courts, they are, like many things at the V&A, grand relics of 19th century Victorian England. They house myriad plaster casts of masterworks ranging from a full-sized replica of Trajan’s column (in two parts), to Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise, to many works by Michelangelo, including a 1:1 cast of David. An inspiring setting for drawing practice!