Ein Ringen zwischen Künstler und Maschine
Mario Klingemann, a pioneer of AI art, presents "Conflict of Interest," a pop-up exhibition at Sleek Art Space in Berlin during Gallery Weekend. Curated by Anika Meier and produced in collaboration with Art on Tezos, the show features works that challenge the flood of AI-generated imagery. Klingemann displays mundane landscape photographs from private slides, a series called "Weapons of Mass Distraction" where he disrupts an AI algorithm's image generation, and a haunting 2020 video in which AI-generated faces morph to music. The exhibition makes visible the struggle between human control and machine logic.
This exhibition matters because it addresses a critical moment in AI art: when AI-generated images have become ubiquitous, how can an artist still produce compelling work? Klingemann, creator of the autonomous AI artist Botto that has generated millions in sales at Sotheby's and appeared at Art Basel Hong Kong, deliberately chooses reduction, disruption, and irritation over spectacle. By intervening in the AI's mathematical processes and presenting deliberately boring images, he forces viewers to reconsider attention, differentiation, and the very nature of creativity in an age of visual overload. The show serves as a timely reflection on the conflicts and possibilities of human-machine collaboration.