AI Artist Spotlight: Mario Klingemann
As one of the pioneers of artificial intelligence (AI) art, Mario Klingemann, a renowned German artist has created some of the finest AI-generated pieces of art. He’s known for his unique style and genus of AI art, which analyses culture, originality, and discernment through neural networks and machine learning–the two main components of AI.
Between 2016 and 2018, Klingemann served as Google Arts and Culture resident. He has made numerous appearances at different art-related events, including the Photographers’ Gallery London, the Ars Electronica Festival, the British Library, the Museum of Modern Art New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, and the Centre Pompidou Paris.
If you’re interested in AI art, then you’ll find the story of Mario Klingemann quite motivating. Without a doubt, he’s one of the popular artists that have earned AI art the kind of admiration and worldwide approval it has today. To appreciate the reason why Klingemann’s work is so popular, you must understand the entire concept of using AI to create pieces of art.
Biography
Born in 1970 in Laatzen, Lower Saxony, Germany, Mario Klingemann is a celebrated German artist and questioner, whose inquisitive mind led him to try his hand at AI art. His favourite tools of the trade are neural networks, machine learning, code, and algorithms, all of which are designed to help artists with AI text-to-image generation.
One of Klingemann’s most popular AI artworks is known as Dog & Pony, named after his popular art gallery in Munich, Germany, where he runs a creative free space allowing artists to display their work. Klingemann is now competing with other globally recognized AI artists like Memo Akten, Alexander Reben, and Sougwen Chung, among others.
Recently, Klingemann made headlines when he sold one of his popular AI art pieces titled Memories of Passersby I. This piece was among the first pieces of art generated through AI that were brought into Sotheby’s auction house. According to Klingemann, the art piece comprises the code and system, instead of its constantly changing production on two screens.
He maintains that this work represents a vital historical and theoretical milestone in the history of art. As a critic, Klingemann is motivated by his profound desire to question, conceptualise, and destabilise the internal mechanisms of systems. His deep interest in understanding human insight and artistic theory drives him to create unique pieces of AI art.
In every piece that he creates, Klingemann explores uncharted terrains in the hope of discovering hidden beauty and unthought-of ideas, which is why he keeps surprising his fans with new and baffling creations.
Institutions
Apart from Google Art and Culture, Klingemann has also worked for several other prestigious institutions like Cardiff University and New York Public Library. He has exhibited his works at various popular galleries, including ZKM Karlsruhe and many others.
Awards
Through his creative work, Klingemann has received numerous accolades, including the British Library Labs Artistic Award 2016, the Lumen Prize 2018, and the Honorary Mention in the Prix Ars Electronica 2020.