“AI Art” and Delegated Digital Creativity: Victor Wong’s TECH-iNK Paintings and Chen Qiufan’s Novella “State of Trance”

Journal
Olomouc Asian Studies Series
Series
2
ISBN
978-80-244-6347-6
Type
book section
Date Issued
2023
Author(s)
;
Editor(s)
Filip Kraus
Kateřina Šamajová
Renata Westlake
Blanka Ferklová
DOI
Abstract
This chapter investigates new forms of conceptual experimentation with so-called ”artificial intelligence” in visual art and literary fiction. Drawing on theories of generative art and delegated art, we propose the term ”delegated digital creativity” to describe art and literature that explicitly delegate part of the conception as well as realization of a given work to ”AI” models. In visual art, this chapter examines ”TECH-iNK” paintings by Victor Wong – ink-and-wash landscapes executed by a machine programmed by the artist. In literature, the chapter discusses a sci- ence-fiction novella by Chen Qiufan in which the authorship of some passages is assigned to a machine-learning model. By placing these case studies within the history of avant-garde experimentation, this chapter shows how the adoption of such technologies, as it occurs in these works, foregrounds the issue of control and deception while it establishes complex relations of continuity and innovation with tradition.
Language
English
Refereed
Yes
Book title
Continuity and Change in Asia
Publisher
Palacký University Press
Publisher place
Olomouc
Start page
467
End page
494
Pages
28
Official URL
URL