March 6 at Sotheby’s auction in London, a very unusual lot — installation, the main element of which is a neural network that is constantly generating unique portraits. The project, called “Memories of passers-by 1” (Memories of Passersby 1), will be the second work of art from AI, which will be sold. This is the first such network that is designed specifically for the auction.
The installation consists of two screens connected by a small vintage chest of drawers (by the way, is also an important part of the project, the walnut tree still). It is in this “nightstand” is an artificial intelligence that generates a stream of images. As the Creator of the project — Mario Klingemann, the buyer of this lot will provide original portraits of a lifetime (Yes, they never again).
To train the neural network, were used tens of thousands of paintings and works of European art. AI capable of self-learning, which the Creator has embedded many algorithms. For the installation you only need electricity for everything else meets the neural network.
The initial cost of the lot will be from 40 to 50 thousand dollars, but its price can easily reach up to 500 thousand dollars and even million. So, in October last year, another neural network is a work of art, “Portrait of Edmond de Belami” was the largest sold at Christie’s auction for 432 thousands of dollars. Selling “masterpiece” was unusual not only because it is the first case in the 252-year history of the auction house’s sale of the painting robot, but also because the expected value of the lot had to be no more than 7-10 thousand dollars.
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