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The 2022 edition of Bucharest Biennial to be curated by robot
While the ninth Bucharest Biennial is migrating online, organizers have recently announced that an artificial intelligence system will curate the 2022 edition of the art fair.
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A visitor looks at installation 'Wartime Knitting Circle' by artist Sabrina Gschwandtner at the International Biennial of Contemporary Art in Bucharest May 21, 2010. (AFP/Daniel Mihailescu)
T
his year's edition of the Bucharest Biennial, entitled "Farewell to Research," will launch online on June 28 in reaction to the global pandemic.
While the ninth Bucharest Biennial is migrating online, organizers have recently announced that an artificial intelligence system will curate the 2022 edition of the art fair.
The AI program is named Jarvis in reference to the loyal household butler of the Stark family in the Marvel Comics titles "Iron Man" and "The Avengers."
Jarvis has been built and developed by the Vienna-based studio Spinnwerk, which will train it in the next two years to learn curatorship using "materials from the world's renowned MA's of curating and contemporary art history from the most respected universities."
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"At the end of the process Jarvis will select several participants/artists/creators for the biennial based on his knowledge," Spinnwerk founder Razvan Ion told The Art Newspaper, adding that the scientist will rely on "organizations that have the relevant information in a database form" to guide Jarvis's curatorial choices.
In addition to recruiting a robot curator, the tenth edition of the Bucharest Biennial will take place exclusively in the digital realm.
Virtual reality booths will also be installed in Bucharest and Vienna, in order to enable people without VR headsets at home to experience the biennial.
While the Bucharest Biennial will be the first fair curated by an AI system, the art market has demonstrated a real appetite for AI-generated art in recent years.
The algorithm-created "Portrait of Edmond de Belamy" fetched an astounding $432,500 at Christie's in October 2018, selling for nearly 45 times its high estimate and setting a record for a painting created by artificial intelligence.
An ultra-realistic AI humanoid robot, named Ai-Da, also mounted its own solo exhibition last July at St John's College in Oxford, where it presented a selection of drawings, paintings, sculptures and video art.
Built-in cameras notably enabled Ai-Da to draw people from life with a pencil held in its humanoid arm, turning the robot into an artist of its own according to researchers at Oxford University.
