German artist David Marx is one of the pioneers in using AI for his works. In doing so, he impressively demonstrates that intelligent prompt input does not yet make art, but rather emerges from a complex process of ideas, empirical values and detailed instructions. In Portugal you will have the opportunity to get a hands-on insight into David’s work: We will create an AI-based work of art together with the AI designer and other artists on site – which you can take home afterwards!
David Marx is not easy to pigeonhole or assign to an industry, but when asked about his passion, he speaks of his avant-garde penchant for minimalism and a strong orientation towards the idea of progress, characterized by a particular radicalism towards existing aesthetic and culinary norms.
The Lisbon-based designer loves (re)inventing things, designing them and staging them accordingly. To this purpose, he founded his own playground a good 12 years ago with the Berlin-based food lab “The Science Kitchen.” With the globally acclaimed and multiple award-winning reinvention of the classic popsicle, he quickly made the leap onto the international stage, where he now helps major brands turn their ideas into sustainable products. In addition to the food lab, he successfully runs a vegan popsicle production in the U.S., several ice cream boutiques in China and a dessert bar in Colombo. He is also currently developing his first luxury alcohol-free spirit and watch brand.
For about a year, Marx has been exploring AI-powered art on a professional level, focusing particularly on photography and animation (video). He is driven by the ever-new possibilities that artificial intelligence offers him, and inquisitively discovers new uses for it almost daily. But his art is anything but AI-based randomness. While Marx enjoys experimenting with generative AI like Midjourney from time to time, in the end each new piece of art is a complex process of ideas, experience and detailed instructions (prompts). Time and patience are important factors here. Marx is also only satisfied with high-quality, which in this case means high-resolution, files, which is why he puts numerous additional hours of work into each AI-generated image.
In addition to virtual images, Marx also uses AI tools to create haptic things like 3D-printed glasses, real street photography for a blouse manufacturer and designs for new Matchbox cars. “Anything is possible, and that’s what makes it so incredibly exciting,” is his current conclusion.
Marx even goes a step further and claims that AI will trigger the biggest revolution in the art market. After all, it made him close his classic photography studio to be able to become part of this new movement. “AI is nothing less than a revolution and therefore the best thing that can happen to us right now,” the designer says with conviction.
As a participant of CIOmove 2023 in Portugal, you will have the unique opportunity to join David Marx in his creative work and learn how he uses artificial intelligence to create never-before-seen images. You’ll also have the chance to create an AI-based artwork with him – and then take it home!