Robert Sochacki

Robert Rauschenberg was fascinated by technology and created his artworks, that were often hybrids of various media, along with engineering. One important element of his artistic strategy was the use of the ‘erasure’ technique. In a series called Erased de Kooning Drawing (1953), the artist erased a drawing by a famous abstract painter, Willem de Kooning. That is how Rauschenberg experimented with the conventions of traditional painting and challenged the notion of originality and uniqueness of the artwork.
His work contributed to the development of contemporary art, and his ‘erasure’ technique inspired many artists after him. In the context of artificial intelligence (AI), Rauschenberg’s technique can be seen as a creative process for generating new images or content. AI can be used to simulate the ‘erasure’ process and generate new images based on existing ones. For example, AI systems based on neural networks can be taught to ‘erase’ parts of an original image and replace them with other elements to create a new artwork.
The notion – or act – of erasure might as well serve as as a metaphor of the new human and non-human relations and not only, in the artworld and not only there.
What will be the artistic role of the AI? How will we value it?
Given that it will significantly change the notion of time – will we have a chance to build a new model of society?

Dr Robert Sochacki,  [PhD, visual artist, academic lecturer, art curator] Visual artist, art curator, scenographer, academic teacher with a PhD in Fine Arts, teaching at the E. Geppert Academy of Fine Arts in Wroclaw. Sochacki is focused on collective process in art and the interaction between artwork and viewers in his artistic practice. He usually works with large format video installation and various light art concepts. He is a co-creator of NOKS collective (www.noks.info)
http://robertsochacki.pl/