Egor Kraft / b. 1986, Russia / lives and works in Moscow and Berlin

The 5th Ural Biennial Main Project features the work:
«Content Aware Studies» (Two-channel video installation, sculpture, 2018–2019)
Courtesy of the artist

In his practice, Egor Kraft explores the developing possibilities of communication in the context of rapid digitalization and their correlation with such discursive notions as information, identity, chaos and order, time, and perception. At the core of his interest is the way technologies affect our fragmented perception of the world and interfere with its seemingly incontestable logic.

The goal of Content Aware Studies is to generate, or—in a symbolic sense—to resurrect lost antique friezes and sculptures by means of machine learning algorithmic analysis. Based on image analysis, the algorithm generates 3D models, which are then printed in transparent resin and used to fill the missing parts of these friezes and sculptures. The synthetic material extends body parts of the ancient gods and giants, and evokes a sense of lifeless sterility, pointing to a particular version of the future. The resulting sculptures sometimes faithfully restore the original forms, and at other times reveal bizarre errors in AI’s interpretation of human anatomy.

The project aims to put in conversation the aesthetics of classical antiquity with generative computing. It explores the automation of artistic labor, quasi-archeology, and the aesthetic relationships of creating artwork in collaboration with AI. Questioning the idea of authorship in its traditional sense, the work scrutinizes the interpretation of knowledge and culture in the information age.