Exploring the human relationship with technology

During the last couple of years, we have seen a vast development of machine learning and AI tools becoming available for artists, designers, and other creatives. engaging all of us in a quest to understand the potential opportunities and risks these tools represents for creativity.

Since early 2021, COLLECTIVE OSLO and Snøhetta has been engaged in an explorative collaboration to investigate the human relationship with technology. Driven by curiosity and a desire to investigate generative AI, we set out to explore whether these technologies could be used to create visual expressions mirroring COLLECTIVE OSLO’s constantly evolving search for the most vibrant frequency in arts and culture.

What can co-creation with a machine teach us about creativity?

Our investigations with AI generative technologies and experimental visual expressions of COLLECTIVE OSLO, started out as a venture with no predefined boundaries but over the next two years, the expressions took the shape of a visual identity, and the creative processes became co-creation with the machines.

The identity was shaped based on a set of adaptive visual expressions, created by algorithms. These expressions are all machine-made but created by human input. Furthermore, we found that continuous human dialogue was needed to curate the outcome, to stop the generative processes at the right time – leaving traces of the operation and intended imperfection. As humans we have the ability and the free will to curate the process; to question, control, and stop the generative output before it gets flawless.

These processes and examinations mounted for us that to create a visual expression that is interesting, challenging, and open to interpretation, co-creation with a machine could provide an explorative creativity where algorithms became co-creators – but at least still, under human supervision and control.

Three of the algorithms originally explored are included in our final visual identity and this website. All are open source and can be seen 

. The first algorithm, StyleGAN, has been used in two different ways to create two different expressions, by uploading images to train it to recognise shapes and generate more. 

Using the same algorithm for two different things, allowed it to concentrate on one specific task at a time, and mastering it very well. StyleGANwas used to create our changeable logo, now containing 10,000 versions of the letter C. Secondly, it was also used to create a series of organic patterns, by feeding it pictures of nature – creating a contrast to the digital technology. To maintain visual coherence in the diverse outputs, the first-iteration results were processed through the Potrace algorithm. This algorithm drew out the line-based visual language. It generates vector files, ensuring a coherent and recognisable style for Collective Oslo.

Then the third algorithm, GammaCV, accesses the camera on your computer to generate a live linear drawing of your face, and what is seen through its lens. This visualization; the MIMESIS MACHINE, depicts how we look in the eyes of machines, and acts as a stark reminder that we are being observed more than we like to think, providing big tech companies with a lot of information about our lives.

The search for the most vibrant frequency

Our new visual identity is a result of this collective exploration with visual expressions not intended to be perfect but to tell a story about t creativity and our processes. We believe that the most vibrant frequencies are found when we dare to challenge, to explore, investigate – constantly move forward and not be afraid of imperfection.

A big thank you to the fantastic team at Snøhetta – Hedda Lilleng, Managing Director Snøhetta Design and designer and creative technologist Kim Andre Fosslien Ottesen, who was the lead designer for the project.

 SNØHETTA + COLLECTIVE OSLO – Co-Creation with The Machines

Art met movement met fashion in Edda Gimnes’s spectacular show “Walking Art”.

Gimnes has been internationally acclaimed by the likes of LVMH and Alber Elbaz and her design has been worn by among others, Lady Gaga, Gigi Hadid and Cardi B.

For the launch of the Edda Gimnes SS24 collection, Collective Oslo collaborated with Ballet dancers to create the performance art piece Walking Art. Together with choreographer Elisabeth Snaprud we cureated dancers from Den Norske Balettskole and ballet danser Nae Nishimura Skaar from the Norwegian National Ballet. With a film as the back drop for the performance by photographer and film maker Ignat Wiig the performance captured the playful and dramatic world of Edda Gimnes.

EDDA GIMNES (1991, NORWAY) is a fashion designer and artist. Her creations blur the line between wearable fashion and artistic installations and have been highly acclaimed by the international fashion world. Already in 2015, she was named by the New York Times as a “Designer to Watch” and in 2018 she was the first Norwegian to be nominated to the prestigious LVMH prize and showed her creations at the Paris Fashion Week. Gimnes has combined fashion and innovation through partnerships with among others Microsoft, Epson, H&M, Max Mara Group and Disney. She is also one of the youngest designers ever to be shown at at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York when she was selected to participate in the exhibition “Camp: Notes on Fashion”. Her works has been acquired by and are now a part of the collections of Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe and The Norwegian National Museum. She had a first solo exhibition at NITJA Center for Contemporary Art earlier this year and have dressed artists such as Lady Gaga, Cardi B and Gigi Hadid.

Concept & production by Collective Oslo
Event photo og film: Goodiebag
Kunst photo og film: Ignat Wiig
Styling: Edda Gimnes
Choreographer: Elisabeth Snaprud
Makeup & Hair: Adam og Eva
Lighting and stage: Beleven
Dansers: Nae Nishimura Skaar, Eline Tolstrup Christensen, Nora Auberg, Myrna Lømo, Ida Malthe, Aniela Knutsen, Olivia Snaprud Corneliussen
Location: Oslo Eventhub

EDDA GIMNES – Walking Art

The art installation CATHEDRAL OF EGO is the result of a COLLECTIVE OSLO initiative and a collaboration with the the internationally renowned tattoo artist and founder of Sang Bleu Maxime Plescia-Büchi and Bjørn Gunnar Staal, co-founder of the experiential art and design studio VOID. 

The evolution of the geometric figures projected onto the early winter forest floor of Ekebergskogen, Oslo, Norway quite literally emerges from a COLLECTIVE OSLO conversation Bjørn Gunnar Staal and Maxime Plescia-Buchi through a custom interpretation software. 

The extrusion of these forms through an array of lasers enveloped in smoke, creates the intangible cathedral of light, which mirrors ideas from the conversation revolving around the shift in western contemporary discourse from the religious transcendence of the ego to the promise of salvation through technology.

MAXIME PLESCIA-BÜCHI + BJØRN GUNNAR STAAL – Cathedral of Ego 

/ ANDREAS GYSIN / BJØRN GUNNAR STAAL / EDDA GIMNES / KARSTEN SCHMIDT / KIM ASENDORF / / LEANDER HERZOG / MARIUS WATZ / MONUSE /

For the 1st edition of COLLECTIVE OSLO TECH FACTORY series, some of the most interesting creators, experts, and explorers in the intersection of tech, art, and fashion together with an audience of more than 700 people, shared an evening of phygital experiences.

The rapid development of AI, the Metaverse, disruptive non-fungible tokens (NFTs), ChatGPT and Web3, generate endless new opportunities for the creative field. The 1st edition of TECH FACTORY explored creativity in this new, vibrant landscape through generative art, panel discussions, performance and phygital fashion.

ALGORYTHMS
Momentum and Temporality in Generative Art
Group Exhibition

The international group exhibition “ALGORYTHMS – Momentum and Temporality in Generative Art” presented works by a selection of the most exploratory and established artists in this field; KIM ASENDORF (1981, Germany), ANDREAS GYSIN (1975, Switzerland), LEANDER HERZOG 1984, Switzerland), KARSTEN SCHMIDT (1975, Germany), BJØRN GUNNAR STAAL (1985, Norway) and MARIUS WATZ (1973, Norway).

Art met movement met fashion in Edda Gimnes’s spectacular show “Walking Art” where her haute couture creations was presented by ballet dancers including Nae Nishimura, ballerina with the National Ballet. Gimnes has been internationally acclaimed by the likes of LVMH and Alber Elbaz and her design has been worn by among others, Lady Gaga, Gigi Hadid and Cardi B.

MONUSE invited to an experimental fashion experience show, presenting “a Code Couture” together with its first Spring-Summer 2024 collection. This debut collection by MONUSE revolved around “DYSTOPIC BLOSSOM” and was showcased through life-sized displays featuring imaginative landscapes and immersive animations.

In the TECH FACTORY TALKS three different panel discussions took place featuring a fascinating mix of artists, tech industry leaders, art experts, fashion designers, brand owners and communicators generously sharing their experiences and discussing opportunities and risks.

/ HENNING ROKLING / KIM ANDRÉ FOSSLIEN OTTESEN / RUNE PAULSETH / PER KRISTIAN STOVELAND / NICOLAY WESSELTOFT /

What happens when we train machines to mimic human intelligence to go beyond performing tasks and become creative?
What are the opportunities and risks?

/ SYNNE SKULSTAD / EIRIK THORSEN / IDA LUND HERMANRUD /

Are we facing a new reality with blockchain, ChatGPT, Generative AR, VR, AI all coming together as one new grail for creativity?

/ ALEKSANDER SAHR / TOMINGA HOPE O’DONNELL /
KJELL HAUSMANN / CHRISTIAN SCHÜSSLER /

Phygital lifestyle is not a futuristic vision, we are already bridging the gap between the digital and the physical world
- where do we go from here?

TECH FACTORY I – Group Exhibition / Shows / Talks

/ AMANDA CHARCHIAN/ ARIELLE CHIARA / CHARLIE ENGMAN / ISABEL MARTINEZ AKA ISABELITA VITUAL / LEA COLOMBO/ PETRA COLLINS/ SYNCHRODOGS /

The spirit of the 2nd edition of the exhibition series BORDER is haunted by an eclectic non-conformity; an artistic tendency catalyzed by a rapidly changing world and a hunger for individual freedom. The artists curated, belong to the new frontiers with both opinions and agendas; Amanda Charchian, Arielle Chiara, Petra Collins, Lea Colombo, Charlie Engman, Isabel Martinez and Synchrodogs.

Artist and director Petra Collins explores contemporary femininity and the complex intersections of adolescence and womanhood. Lea Colombo moves away from the fashion imagery she is known for in this exhibition, back to her native South Africa documenting life, religious beliefs, and the superstition of the sugar farmers in Durban. Often saturated in deep red, the photographs strike, exhale and captivates.

Amanda Charchian works with a feminine sensuality that celebrates the erotically charged. Her work presented at BORDER, was imageries from her first monograph, the Pheromone Hotbox where she photographs her female artist friends in dramatic locations across the globe, including in Iceland, France, Costa Rica, Morocco, Israel, and Cuba.Charlie Engman’s work, characterized by a daring visual sensibility was staged in the form of huge collages taking the shapes of wallpaper layered with photographs. The artist and director Isabel Martinez aka Isabelita Virtual shared her world of beautiful imagery which made her success and triumph of being different.

Synchrodogs works question what happens when the human body is all alone in nature. Creating contrasting imagery of nudity, natural rough landscapes and artificial materials, their interpretations and conceptions of origin and purpose is astonishing. The artist Arielle Chiaraalso explored the connection of the human body and natural elements in her work, using memory-holding materials. Present and tactile, she presents comprehensive personal experiences.

"Beauty is the irrational combined with amusement, and the perfect art piece would be a meaningful expression that brings this kind of beauty to the world"

This 2nd BORDER edition was produced by COLLECTIVE OSLO and staged in a 1700m2 warehouse location at the harbour in central Oslo, Norway.

Through FRAME, a joint collaboration with COLLECTIVEOSLO, OONI Studio and the architectural firm Snøhetta, the exhibition also included a VR virtual experience set in a futuristic virtual space exploring new viewpoints and unexpected placements providing a augmented experience of the works featured.

"Women's emotions are constantly labeled. Any slight deviation from so-called pleasantness and we are labeled as hysterical"

The BORDER exhibition series is curated by COLLECTIVE OSLO to celebrate and promote artists bringing new and vibrant perspectives to the intersection between art and fashion, focused on fashion photography.

BORDER II  – Group Exhibition

/ BESSNYC4/ CHARLOTTE WALES/ COCO CAPITAN/ JOHNNY DUFORT /KATERINA PLOTNIKOVA / MICHAL PUDELKA /

For the 1st edition of group exhibition series BORDER, COLLECTIVE OSLO curated an international group of artists; Katerina Plotnikova, Charlotte Wales, Michal Pudelka, bessnyc4, Johnny Dufort and Coco Capitan. Their works are characterized by non-conformity and boundaryless interpretations of their individual discourses.

The Moscow-based photographer Katerina Plotnikova’s visualizes a breathtaking fairytale of enchanted worlds with humans and wild animals intertwining. Plotnikova’s works stand in sharp contrast to Bessnyc4mocking of the fashion industry with design compilations of sadomasochistic images with logos such as Chanel and Gucci. Yet both, has been commissioned by major fashion houses for their campaigns. Michal Pudelkareflects on his childhood and explores the fine lines between individual and uniformity with references to his mother’s job in a hospital in post-communism Bratislava.Photographer and filmmaker Charlotte Wales known for her ability to create ethereal visual spaces presented a delicate personal project on the border of innocence and provocation. In the work of Johnny Dufort, his raw and surrealist visions strike and create a captivating, manipulated aesthetic. The artist and photographer Coco Capitan weave together what now has become her trademark handwritten prose, poems, and aphorisms with imagery where she examines her perceptions of our contemporary society.

This first edition was set up in collaboration with Fineart in their gallery, Oslo, Norway.

"Freedom is a relative concept where the freedom of one begins, the freedom of another ends"

BORDER I  – Group Exhibition

A CONSTANT JOURNEY INTO THE FUTURE was a retrospective exhibition celebrating the most experimental work by the photographer Sølve Sundsbø. 

His visionary approach and early adoption of new technologies surface in his boundary-pushing, striking creations. Large scale prints were combined with a 6-meter-high film installation consisting of split images moving in and out composing an ever-morphing, captivating creature.

The exhibition was staged at the historic Høymagasinet at the Akershus Fortress in Oslo, Norway.

"I don’t know if pure artistic freedom exists or even has. I think certain limitations can be good"

SØLVE SUNDSBØ – A Constant Journey into the Future

The exhibition BALLENSQUE presented the art photographer Roger Ballen’s mesmerising universe in the form of a retrospective of his most probing and challenging works. Through a selection of analogue photographs combined with movies and projections, his psychologically powerful and intricately layered interpretations took the shape of a compelling and potent experience.

Ballen increasingly brings painting, drawing, sculpture and graffiti to the foreground of his work. He distances himself from realistic representation and focuses on the image as a manifestation of a state of the mind or the soul, vision, dream or even nightmare. The figurative forms of Ballen’s expression seamlessly blend with newspaper clippings, cardboard drawings reminiscent of the Art brut-aesthetic cultivated by Jean Dubuffet or the Graffiti series of photographs by Brassaï.

The Norwegian sound artist Timon Botez collaborated with Ballen creating a distinct soundscape augmenting the emotions of the works presented. 

Included in the exhibition was also a VR experience of BALLENSQUE, initiated by COLLECTIVE OSLO and produced by OONI Studio in New York. The exhibition was set in an old circus tent at Aker Brygge, Oslo, Norway, produced by COLLECTIVE OSLO in collaboration with Willas Contemporary Gallery.

"The images I create, I create not to inform. They are much rather meant to be understood as a coherent commentary on the chaos in our incomprehensible world. If I could attach any meaning to the images, they would be nothing more than simple photographs"

ROGER BALLEN – Ballenesque

IN THE MATRIX – A KATE MOSS PROJECT is part of an ongoing art collaboration between film maker and photographer Dusan Reljin and Kate Moss. The beautiful and intimate exhibition was exhibited at Mellomstasjonen at the National Museum of Art in Oslo, Norway.

Working with hologram scans, Reljin has captured a futuristic, hyper-digital version of one of the world’s most iconic beauties – Kate Moss. These almost unrecognizable portraits melt poetic allure with hard-core inhumanity creating an artificial and saturated version of reality yet convey reactive delicacy. The holographic portraits were printed on Chromaluxe extending the 3D appearance and adding vibrancy.

"These images represent the vortex between our reality and dreams"

DUSAN RELJIN –  In the Matrix - A Kate Moss Project 

For the exhibition BLOOD, STONES AND CERTAIN BEASTS Bob Recine and Bjarne Melgaard joined forces to present a unique, disturbing and surreal experience. Grotesque sculptures, masses of hair, plastics, enormous photographs, a hanging car wreck claimed attention in a 1700m2 warehouse location at the harbour in central Oslo, Norway.

The two artists combined creations, notably the sculptures, are results of a close collaboration where they took turns creating and making modifications fusing their visions and creative outputs. The curation of works exhibited melted together their artistic universes at the same juxtaposed their differences in perspective and approach. The Architecture and Design firm Snøhetta, created a set of interdependent pedestals - adding a fusional dimension, mirroring their silhouettes.

COLLECTIVE OSLO commissioned the experimental Art and Design studio VOID, to create a site-specific light installation for the exhibition to challenge the traditional concept of displaying and experiencing art. VOID created a spacial experience - a dynamic, ever-changing environment through light and movements. By programming unpredictable behaviour for the movement of the light sources, the experience of the monumental artworks and the ambience of the exhibition was augmented and adding a new layer to the experience.

To further the experiences, the musicians and composers Bendik Baksaas and Kristoffer Eikrem created live generated soundscapes adding a compelling, generative ambience.

The exhibition also featured a live generated soundscapes and a generative ambience by Bendik Baksaas and Kristoffer Eikrem.

Art projects

SNØHETTA + COLLECTIVE OSLO – Co-Creation with The Machines

EDDA GIMNES – Walking Art

MAXIME PLESCIA-BÜCHI + BJØRN GUNNAR STAAL – Cathedral of Ego

TECH FACTORY I – Group Exhibition / Shows / Talks

BORDER II – Group Exhibition

BORDER I – Group Exhibition

SØLVE SUNDSBØ – A Constant Journey into the Future

ROGER BALLEN – Ballenesque

DUSAN RELJIN – In the Matrix - A Kate Moss Project

BOB RECINE + BJARNE MELGAARD - Blood, Stones and Certain Beasts