Bloomington artist Brian Trippi's AI exhibit featured at THE LUME Indianapolis at Newfields

Connie Shakalis
·4 min read

Bloomington-based artist Brian Trippi believes "artificial intelligence will be the most revolutionary, most impactful technology in the history of humanity."

From 6 to 8 p.m. April 14, at a Brian Trippi launch party at THE LUME Indianapolis at Newfields, his short digital exhibition that includes artificial intelligence (AI) will be featured, along with works of two other artists who won the chance to exhibit.

A digital artist and music producer, Trippi mixes technology with art. His techniques include math, randomness and AI. His works are bridges between humans and machines, and he sees AI as capable of helping people make better art.

An AI version of flowers is shown in Brian Trippi's "Into the Latent Space," exhibit.
An AI version of flowers is shown in Brian Trippi's "Into the Latent Space," exhibit.

His LUME display, "Into the Latent Space," looks at AI's "brain" and provides images from millions of dancing particles, and nature scattering into tiny pixels.

Each short exhibition is both visual and auditory and accompanies Newfield's "Monet & Friends Alive!" as independent digital art.

THE LUME Indianapolis offers visits to the immersive (you walk right into it) world of lighting and world renowned art (Renoir, Cézanne, Monet, Pissarro, etc). There are 30 Vincent van Goghs. The rest is short "featurettes" by rising digital artists.

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On the museum's fourth floor, you feel as though you strolled into Paris during the 1800s. It's significant because that's when European art veered into major change.

Trippi, who is both a digital artist and music producer, felt confident about submitting his application.

"At the same time, AI is somewhat controversial in the art world right now, and I wasn’t sure that Newfields would be willing to embrace such a new way of creating art. However, in working with the staff at Newfields, I have been impressed with their openness and willingness to evolve and adapt."

Immersing one's self in 'Into the Latent Space'

Sound and visuals envelope viewers. At one point, all the walls and floor twinkle with millions of tiny glowing flecks that appear to dance to the music. Here, Trippi makes viewers feel they are standing inside the mind of an AI, seeing what happens within a neural network algorithm.

If AI sounds too far out, think of how we've already been using it.

A still image, Mandella, is part of an exhibit by Brian Trippi that is on display at THE LUME at Newfields in Indianapolis.
A still image, Mandella, is part of an exhibit by Brian Trippi that is on display at THE LUME at Newfields in Indianapolis.

"The list of AI in our daily lives is growing very quickly: Google or Apple Maps navigation, text autocorrection on our phones, email spam blockers, fraud detection on our credit cards, facial recognition, our social media feeds, product recommendations, the list goes on and on." He mentioned, too, our robotic vacuum cleaners.

And the pace of these technological changes is increasing.

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Hope for the novice artist

Trippi has been creating visual art for less than a year and a half.

"It is a testament to the power of the technology that someone like me, who has zero ability to draw or paint, is able to create art through the use of cutting edge technology."

He wants viewers to recognize the possibilities technology has opened for creativity and to weigh the role of human creativity in the age of AI.

How Trippi works

His process usually starts with a vision of something he wants to make.

"Say, I am creating an animation of a flower. I'll start by giving the AI a list of guidelines to follow. (Make it a purple and white flower on a sunny day with blue skies. Make it beautiful, make it incredibly detailed with photo realistic quality.)"

A still image from the exhibit by Brian Trippi shows various types of flowers.
A still image from the exhibit by Brian Trippi shows various types of flowers.

In that way he gives the AI a list of constraints. Then he runs the program, and the AI outputs a result. Randomness and chance are involved; if you run the program a thousand times you get a thousand different results.

"I’ll run the program a few times, I’ll observe what the AI does and then I will make some changes."

He'll tell the AI to use less yellow or leave out the bees until he gets what he wants. But sometimes the AI gives you a surprise — unexpected, supremely beautiful and interesting. That's when the artist falls in love with AI, that collaboration.

"Alone, the AI can't create anything by itself, and alone I can’t draw to save my life, but together we are able to create art."

Trippi began his college education as a jazz studies major in Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music and ended up graduating with a degree in finance from the Kelley School of Business in Indianapolis. He earned a master’s degree in data science from the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering in 2018.

When he's not computing, DJ-ing or making music, he is laughing at comedy podcasts, and at the antics of Roxy, his dog.

If you go

WHAT: Launch party for Brian Trippi's "Into the Latent Space": a metaphorical look into the mind of artificial intelligence. Explore Trippi's and other artists' works after hours with family and friends. Light hors d’oeuvres will be provided, and Cafe Lumiere will stay open.

WHEN: 6-8 p.m. April 14

WHERE: THE LUME Indianapolis at Newfields, 4000 Michigan Road, Indianapolis

TICKETS: $15-$29 at https://bit.ly/3Z6awYe

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bloomington artist Brian Trippi featured at Indy's THE LUME, Newfields