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For centuries, creative people have turned tools into art, or come up with inventions to change how we think about the world around us. Today you can explore the intersection of art and technology through two new experiments, created by artists in collaboration with the Google Arts & Culture Lab, only recently announced at Google I/O 2019.
Created by artists Molmol Kuo & Zach Lieberman, Weird Cuts lets you make collages using augmented reality. You can select one of the cutouts shown in the camera screen to take a photo in a particular shape. The resulting cut-out can then be copy-pasted into the space around you, as seen through your camera’s eye. Download the app, available on iOS and Android, at g.co/weirdcuts.
Weird cuts in action
Want to design your very own artwork with AI? Artist duo Pinar & Viola and Google engineer Alexander Mordvintsev—best known for his work on DeepDream—used machine learning to create a tool to do so. To use Infinite Patterns, upload an image and a DeepDream algorithm will transform and morph it into a unique pattern. For Pinar & Viola it is the perfect way to find new design inspirations for fashion by challenging one’s perception of shape, color and reality.
Infinite Patterns
These experiments were created in the Google Arts & Culture Lab, where we invite artists and coders to explore how technology can inspire artistic creativity. Collaborations at the Lab gave birth to Cardboard, the affordable VR headset, and Art Selfie, which has matched millions of selfies with works of art around the world.
To continue to encourage this emerging field of art with machine intelligence, we’re announcing the Artists + Machine Intelligence Grants for contemporary artists exploring creative applications of machine learning. This program will offer artists engineering mentorship, access to core Google research, and project funding.
Machine learning and artificial intelligence are greats tool for artists, and there’s so much more to learn. If you’re curious about its origins and future, dive into the online exhibition “AI: More than Human” by the Barbican Centre, in which some of the world’s leading experts, artists and innovators explore the evolving relationship between humans and technology.
You can try our new experiments as well as the digital exhibition on the Google Arts & Culture app for iOS and Android.