Professor of Computing and the Arts, Frederic Fol Leymarie, gives a comprehensive introduction** to key concepts in AI and Robotics in the context of applications to (Visual) Art.

This introduction was designed in the context of the Creative Machine exhibition, taking place at Taikang Art Museum, in Beijing from mid-November 2024 to the end of February 2025. Frederic is the Academic Chair & Moderator for the exhibition.

** Captions in English and Chinese

Topics/Timeline:

• Intro

• 0:47: Overview of main AI, Robotics, VR technologies present in the exhibition

• 3:35: Overview of the place of Neural Networks, including Deep Learning in the context of current AI

• 6:40: Biological neuron versus Artificial "neuron"

• 9:15: Overview of Pioneers in Computing and Robotic Art

• 10:15: Heinrich Heidersberger as a precursor to Computer Art, focused on generative methods

• 11:54: Intro to Herbert Franke, Harold Cohen as pioneers of AI generative art

• 14:31: Scope of the exhibition from a historical perspective (diagram)

• 17:42: Frieder Nake's art from the 1960's and on

• 18:38: Herbert W. Franke's art from the late 1960's and on

• 19:27: Vera Molnar's art from the late 1960's and on

• 19:58: Desmond Paul Henry, Paul Brown, Ernest Edmonds: art from the 1960's and on

• 20:31: David Em's art from the late 1970's and on

• 21:11: Harold Cohen and the AARON system: art, AI and robotics from the 1970's and on

• 22:24: Benoit Mandelbrot (fractals), John Conway (game of life)

• 24:32: William Latham's art from the 1980's and on (evolutionary processes)

• 26:57: Manfred Mohr's art since the 1960's and on

• 27:41: Generative art and current AI

• 28:20: New generation of Artificial Neural Network architectures (since 2000)

• 30:03: Foundation models and application in art

• 32:45: Parashkev Nachev's art

• 33:33: Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) and art

• 36:50: Memo Akten's art using GANs

• 37:53: Diffusion models and art

• 39:18: Memo Akten's art using Diffusion

• 39:45: Evolutionary art + Artificial Life

• 40:58: Mutator system (since late 1980's)

• 43:04: William Latham's interactive Mutator system (2020+)

• 43:37: William Latham + Stephen Todd: Mutator infinity drawings (2023+)

• 44:09: Andy Lomas' art: cellular growth (since 2013)

• 45:18: Karl Sims' art and computational evolution (since the early 1990's)

• 46:42: Maxim Zhestkov's art and computer simulations (since the late 2010's)

• 47:45: Robotics, VR and Art

• 48:16: Robotics and Art since the 1960's: Mohr, Cohen

• 49:17: Felix Luque Sanchez' art: robotic machines (since the 2000's)

• 50:11: VR/AR/XR art: Char Davies, Rebecca Allen (since the 1980's)

• 51:14: Yajuan Han's art and VR, games & future worlds (since the late 2010's)

• 51:30: Patrick Tresset's drawing robots (since 2010)

• 53:25: video: human-robot collaborative drawing with the use of visual feedback (2017)

• 55:50: AutoGraff research on robotics, calligraphy, drawing and painting by Daniel Berio, Frederic Fol Leymarie, Sylvain Calinon, et al. (since 2015)

• 56:43; video: humanoid robot (Baxter) learn from its errors to write their name in a calligraphic style (2016)

• 58:46: Conclusion

Website archive and details: https://www.creativemachine.io/cm-tam

Other links:

TAM: https://tam.taikang.com/

LG: https://londongeometry.com/

Frederic's profile on LinkedIn:   / folleymarie  

Frederic's profile at Goldsmiths, University of London: https://www.gold.ac.uk/computing/peop...