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Award-winning photograph revealed to be AI-generated image

By in Photography

Award-winning photograph revealed to be AI-generated image

Sony World Photography Award winner Boris Eldagsen from Germany has refused to accept his trophy, revealing his prize-winning photo is an AI-generated image.

The picture, a haunting black and white portrait of two women from different generations, which looks similar to a 1940s family portrait, won the award in the open competition for single images.

During the London award ceremony, Eldagsen revealed the image had been created using artificial intelligence and he refused the prize.

“Thank you for selecting my image and making this a historic moment, as it is the first AI-generated image to win in a prestigious international photography competition,” he says.

“AI images and photography should not compete with each other in an award like this. They are different entities. AI is not photography. Therefore I will not accept the award.”

In a statement on his website, Eldagsen explains how AI technology can be used to “co-create”.

“It is not about pressing a button — and done it is. It is about exploring the complexity of this process, starting with refining text prompts, then developing a complex workflow, and mixing various platforms and techniques.” 

Eldagsen has suggested his competition prize be donated to a photo festival in Odesa, Ukraine. 

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Eldagsen said he entered the competition to provoke a debate about artificial intelligence and photography.

“We, the photo world, need an open discussion. A discussion about what we want to consider photography and what not. Is the umbrella of photography large enough to invite AI images to enter — or would this be a mistake?”

Eldagsen has been embracing the new opportunities that artificial intelligence brings, specialising in making AI-generated images, and calling for separate competitions to be created.

His series Pseudomnesia consists of a number of images that look like “fake memories of a past that never existed, that no-one photographed”. 

“Just as photography replaced painting in the reproduction of reality, AI will replace photography. Don’t be afraid of the future. It will just be more obvious that our mind always created the world that makes it suffer,” he says. 

The Sony World Photography Award is yet to issue a statement responding to Eldagsen’s revelation, however it has removed his image from the website and the exhibition in London.

Maria Samora shows at the Smithsonian

By in Native

Maria Samora shows at the Smithsonian
image

Maria Samora is a fine jeweler born and raised in Taos, to an Anglo mother who came with the Hippie wave, and a father from Taos Pueblo.

Her father, Frank, was immortalized by Frank Waters as “the man who killed the deer,” in the book so titled. Maria grew up with her mother and brother in El Prado, close enough to the village for her dad to ride his horse over daily. 

With Its Serene Japanese Garden in the Middle of Paris, the Famed Home of Fashion Designer Kenzō Takada Has Come to Market

By in Art World News

With Its Serene Japanese Garden in the Middle of Paris, the Famed Home of Fashion Designer Kenzō Takada Has Come to Market

In 1993, Japanese fashion designer Kenzō Takada built the Kenzo House in Paris, a serene enclave amid the typical Haussmann-style buildings of the bustling Bastille neighborhood. The four-story abode, almost completely hidden from view, is centered around a Japanese garden of bamboo, cherry, and maple trees enclosing a babbling stone-studded brook and koi pond—making for a calming atmosphere.

The nearly 14,000-square-foot home has now entered the market for only the third time since its construction, listed by Christie’s International Real Estate in conjunction with Belles Demeures de France. When Takada first listed the house in 2007, in an effort to downsize, the asking price was €12 million ($17.7 million). A later listing in 2015 showed an asking price of €13.2 million ($14 million). Its current asking price, following an extensive revamp, is available upon request.

Takada, who died in 2020, was a fashion maverick, known for his colorful and free-spirited collections that energized the ready-to-wear runways of the French capital starting in the 1970s. His first fashion statement occurred in 1973 when he increased the volume of the popular peasant style to create what was dubbed the Big Look.

The Kenzo House in Paris, with a peek at the surrounding Bastille neighborhood. Photo: Jimmy Cohrssen. Courtesy of Belles Demeures de France.

The Kenzo House in Paris, with a peek at the surrounding Bastille neighborhood. Photo: Jimmy Cohrssen. Courtesy of Belles Demeures de France.

His brand Kenzo—bought by LVMH in 1993 and designed by Nigo (creator of the Japanese urban clothing line A Bathing Ape) since 2021—continues to be lauded for its global aesthetic and whimsical spirit that fuses cross-cultural influences.

After retiring in 1999, Takada continued to produce a variety of luxury goods, including a signature scent in 2000. He also pursued art and, in 2010, his paintings were the subject of the solo exhibition “Un Certain Style de Vie.” In 2021, Christie’s, together with Artcurial, organized a sale of nearly 400 lots of Takada’s furniture, as well as 100 original fashion items from his personal collection.

Interior of the Kenzo House. Photo: Jimmy Cohrssen. Courtesy of Belles Demeures de France.

Interior of the Kenzo House. Photo: Jimmy Cohrssen. Courtesy of Belles Demeures de France.

In addition to his multifarious projects, Takada took a keen interest in his Paris hideaway, which took seven years to complete as the materials had to be imported from Japan. He told the New York Times in 2007 that he had been inspired by the Bangkok home of the silk entrepreneur Jim Thompson, “where authentic Thai architecture is mixed with Western elements like a crystal chandelier. That is what I was doing… I mixed everything, antiques and contemporary designs, Oriental and Western furniture and art.”

In 2016, the Kenzo House was purchased by the third and current owners Olivier and Isabelle Chouvet, co-founders of The Independents, a collection of marketing agencies that count luxury brands and museums among their clients, including MoMA, LACMA, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Chouvets commissioned renowned Japanese architect Kengo Kuma—designer of the National Stadium for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and the Hans Christian Andersen museum in Denmark—to renovate the Kenzo House in 2018. Kuma’s upgrade preserved Takada’s vision of an eclectic mix of cultures by employing traditional Japanese building materials, most notably bamboo, ceramic, stone, and wood.

“Transparency is a characteristic of Japanese architecture,” explained Kuma. “I try to use light and natural materials to get a new kind of transparency…[to] experience nature more deeply and more intimately.”

Interior of the Kenzo House in Paris. Photo: Jimmy Cohrssen. Courtesy of Belles Demeures de France.

Interior of the Kenzo House in Paris. Photo: Jimmy Cohrssen. Courtesy of Belles Demeures de France.

Partnering with architect Loïk Corre of Atelier Kiol, who worked on Takada’s original vision, Kuma left the garden untouched, but did reposition the property’s four ensuite bedrooms in order to face it—characteristic of a Japanese home. Kuma also replaced an indoor lap pool with an engawa, a traditional Japanese exterior corridor crafted from wooden lattices, imparting a sense of warmth and a tactile quality to the home.

He also made slight modifications to the interior, which features French oak louvers, or slanted beams, that resemble the triangular form of the Louvre museum. He outfitted a Japanese pavilion, housing a tea ceremony room, with paper-lined shoji sliding doors and tatami mats. Other amenities of the Kenzo House include a music room, study, and three studio apartments for staff, as well as two reception rooms, two dining rooms, and two kitchens.

Eventually, the architect heard the verdict from the original owner. “I was so happy to hear that Kenzō loved the renovated house,” he said.

See more views of Kenzō Takada’s former Paris home below.

The Kenzo House in Paris. Photo: Jimmy Cohrssen. Courtesy of Belles Demeures de France.

The Kenzo House in Paris. Photo: Jimmy Cohrssen. Courtesy of Belles Demeures de France.

Interior of the Kenzo House. Photo: Jimmy Cohrssen. Courtesy of Belles Demeures de France.

Interior of the Kenzo House. Photo: Jimmy Cohrssen. Courtesy of Belles Demeures de France.

View of the Japanese garden inside the Kenzo House. Photo: Jimmy Cohrssen. Courtesy of Belles Demeures de France.

A view of the Japanese garden at the center of the Kenzo House. Photo: Jimmy Cohrssen. Courtesy of Belles Demeures de France.

Interior of the Kenzo House, featuring French oak louvers. Photo: Jimmy Cohrssen. Courtesy of Belles Demeures de France.

Interior of the Kenzo House, featuring French oak louvers. Photo: Jimmy Cohrssen. Courtesy of Belles Demeures de France.

A jacuzzi inside the renovated Kenzo House. Photo: Jimmy Cohrssen. Courtesy of Belles Demeures de France.

The jacuzzi inside the renovated Kenzo House. Photo: Jimmy Cohrssen. Courtesy of Belles Demeures de France.

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An AI-Generated Photo Was Submitted to a Competition to Make a Point, and It Ended Up Winning

By in Photography

An AI-Generated Photo Was Submitted to a Competition to Make a Point, and It Ended Up Winning

German artist Boris Eldagsen rejected a prestigious photography award, revealing that his submission was AI-generated and he was merely trying to spark debate.

The Sony World Photographer Awards announced its 2023 winners back in March, with Eldagsen among them. The photograph (below), titled Electricia, is described in Sony’s press release as “a haunting black-and-white portrait of two women from different generations, reminiscent of the visual language of 1940s family portraits.”

Image Credit: Eldagsen.com

Image Credit: Eldagsen.com

There’s just one problem: it was made using articial intelligence software. Eldagsen admitted as much in a recent blog post, asking readers, “How many of you knew or suspected that it was AI generated? Something about this doesn’t feel right, does it?”

He went on to say that he would not accept the award nor attend the ceremony, as “AI images and photography should not compete with each other in an award like this.”

“I applied as a cheeky monkey, to find out, if the comeptitions are prepared for AI images to enter. They are not,” he wrote. “We, the photo world, need an open discussion. A discussion about what we want to consider photography and what not. Is the umbrella of photography large enough to invite AI images to enter – or would this be a mistake?”

“With my refusal of the award I hope to speed up this debate,” he concluded.

The image has since been removed from the Sony World Photographer Awards website, and Eldagsen wrote in a follow-up that he “hopes” an official statement form the organization is imminent.

The news comes as controversy continues to swirl around the use of AI software in creative industries, which IGN will be taking a closer look at over the course of its AI Week, starting today. For more, check out how AI became the new battlefield in the animation industry and how a roundtable of how experts think it could affect games.

Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she’s not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.

Tribal leaders urge Congress to protect Native artists from ‘fake tribes’

By in Native

Tribal leaders urge Congress to protect Native artists from ‘fake tribes’
Indianz.Com > News > Tribal leaders urge Congress to protect Native artists from ‘fake tribes’

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Indianz.Com Video: ‘Phony tribes’: Cherokee Nation takes on fraudulent groups

Tribal leaders urge Congress to protect Native artists from ‘fake tribes’

Chief of Cherokee Nation leads charge against ‘phony tribes’

Monday, April 17, 2023

By Acee Agoyo

Indianz.Com

Efforts to strengthen the Indian Arts and Crafts Act (IACA) are drawing widespread attention as tribes seek a major — and controversial — change to a federal law designed to protect Native artists from frauds.

On Friday, five of the largest Indian Nations in Oklahoma adopted a resolution that calls on the U.S. Congress to restrict the IACA to citizens of federally recognized tribes, meaning those with a government-to-government relationship with the United States. Currently, the law applies to artists from federally and state recognized tribes, allowing them to market and sell their goods as “Indian” made.

But Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. of the Cherokee Nation is leading the charge against those he refers to as “fake tribes.” He said many of these groups falsely claim to be Cherokee — thus allowing them to market their goods as “Indian” solely based on their status as a state recognized entity.

“This is an offense to our ancestors, an offense to our artists and confusing to art patrons,” Hoskin said in an opinion published on Indianz.Com. “As Chief, I will not tolerate it. So, let’s do something about it. Let’s tell Congress that our ancestors endured too much to allow fake tribes to undermine our culture and lifeways.”

Joining the Cherokee Nation in the effort to amend the IACA are the Chickasaw Nation, the Choctaw Nation, the Muscogee Nation and the Seminole Nation. As the Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes, the five sovereign governments account for the vast majority of the Indian population in the state of Oklahoma.

The state has already been a battleground to protect the works of artists from the 39 federally recognized tribes in Oklahoma, where their ancestors were violently forced to move by the U.S. throughout the 1800s. In 2016, the Oklahoma Legislature enacted a law that required “Indian” art sold in the state to have been produced by a federally recognized tribal citizen.

But a conservative legal group that has fought against tribal water rights, sacred sites, tribal sovereignty and even the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) went to federal court and got the state law invalidated on behalf of an artist from a state recognized group in Virginia. The 2019 ruling centered on the “conflict” between the Oklahoma law and the IACA, a federal law.

Incidentally, the same artist, who is based in California, challenged another Indian arts law in Missouri with the help of the Pacific Legal Foundation, whose website boasts of a high win rate at the U.S. Supreme Court, where tribes are almost always dealt losses to their rights. The group more recently submitted a brief in Haaland v. Brackeen, the closely-watched case that could lead to ICWA being invalidated for good, depriving federally recognized tribes of the ability to protect their children.

When it comes to protecting artists, Congress could resolve the “conflict” that arose in the Oklahoma case by restricting the IACA to citizens of federally recognized tribes. Some state recognized groups are pushing back on the proposal — along with the notion that they are “fake” — as the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs weighs an update to the law.

“We are no less Native than any of the Federal Tribes in the United States,” five groups claiming to be “Cherokee” and “Creek” from Alabama wrote in an April 17 letter to the committee. “Our crafts and art are a very important part of who we are. It is ridiculous to assume that there are no other (genuine) American Indians other than the Federal Recognized Tribes. We are not stealing culture this is our Culture.”

“We ARE GENUINE Indian Artist,” the letter continues. Chief Hoskin labeled the groups as an “alliance of phony tribes” in a post on social media.

Another group called the 7 Directions of Service is also lobbying against the proposal to limit the IACA to federally recognized tribal artists
The non-profit, which is based in North Carolina, is circulating a letter which it says will be submitted to the Senate committee and to the Department of the Interior, the federal agency that includes the Indian Arts and Crafts Board.

“If they remove state tribes from the Congressional Act language, it will be devastating for state-recognized tribal citizens all over the United States,” the online form states.

7 Directions of Service was founded by Crystal Cavalier-Keck and her husband, Jason “Crazy Bear” Keck. Crystal Cavalier-Keck, who previously ran for Congress as a Democrat and has been active in Democratic politics, is part of the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation, a group that secured state recognition against the recommendations of the North Carolina Commission of Indian Affairs.

7 Directions of Service did not respond to an inquiry placed via email and through an online form about Jason Keck’s supposed tribal affiliations. In the past, he has claimed to be “Choctaw” and “Apache” from Louisiana but has not been specific about the nature of his belonging to any tribal nations.
He also has gone by the name Jason Campos-Keck, with the Keck name coming from his late father James G. Keck.

Amid the jostling, the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on Friday extended the deadline for comments about potential updates to the IACA. The deadline is now May 19 for what is being called the Amendments to Respect Traditional Indigenous Skill and Talent (ARTIST) Act of 2023.

“The ARTIST Act would update the Indian Arts and Crafts Act to support creative economies and strengthen enforcement of current law and protections against counterfeit competition for Native artists and their works,” the Democratic-led committee said in a news release. “Comments will be used to further inform the legislative process and serve as a resource for future discussions on updating the Indian Arts and Crafts Act.”

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), the chair of the committee, announced the ARTIST Act as a discussion draft bill on March 14. One of the notable changes [PDF] is the inclusion of Native Hawaiian artists in IACA.

As enacted in 1990, the Indian Arts and Crafts Act makes it a crime to market, sell or promote an item as “Indian” unless it was created by a citizen of a state or federally recognized tribe or by an artisan certified by a tribe. The law was written to prevent the historical and ongoing misrepresentation of Native arts by non-Native entities.

Native artists and their advocates, however, have long complained about a lack of enforcement — all while fake and fraudulent goods have continued to flood the market. The law was updated in 2000 and in 2010 to address some of the concerns and the ARTIST Act, should it eventually be introduced, could lead to more protections for American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian artisans.

In addition to extending the deadline for comments, Schatz’s committee announced a listening session for the ARTIST Act on April 26. Details have not yet been made public about the upcoming session, which is set to take place virtually.

The Cherokee Nation, meanwhile, is urging its citizens to contact Schatz to limit the IACA to artists from federally recognized tribes. A template letter says such an amendment would protect Cherokee people from “fraudulent and fake artists who illegitimately claim our tribal history and culture.”

More than 200 groups across the nation claim to be “Cherokee,” according to a 2007 report from The Cherokee Phoenix. One group that sought federal recognition was even based in Oregon — thousands and thousands of miles from the present-day headquarters of the Cherokee Nation and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma, and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina. The latter three are the only federally recognized Cherokee tribes.

“The Indian Arts and Crafts Act actually recognizes state tribes,” Chief Hoskin told a meeting of the Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes on Friday. “It puts tribes like the ‘Four Winds Cherokees of Louisiana’ on par with the Cherokee Nation.”

“The ‘Four Winds Cherokees of Louisiana’ is phony as a $3 bill folks,” Hoskin said of the group. “It’s fake.”

“But federal law recognizes that fake tribe — and hundreds of other fake tribes — as real tribes. And they’re not real tribes. We need to change that,” he said..

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Cherokee Nation: It’s Time for Congress to Strengthen the Indian Arts and Crafts Act

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A New Book Celebrates the Playful and Imaginative Interpretations of Working ‘Out of the Box’

By in Art World News

A New Book Celebrates the Playful and Imaginative Interpretations of Working ‘Out of the Box’

All images courtesy of Tom Buchanan, shared with permission

A new book from London-based artist and curator Tom Buchanan revolves around what he terms “box art.” Encompassing what has “evolved, been created within, or even escaped from a box,” the 336-page compendium draws together more than 500 assemblages, collections, dioramas, miniatures, and other works that play with and reenvision the limits of the humble container.

Titled Out of the Box, the volume features a wide array of mediums and styles from enchanting paper dioramas by Hari & Deepti to Ben Young’s sleek glass sculptures mimicking pools and seas to Wolfgang Stiller’s charred matchstick figures. The book is organized by the four elements—earth, water, air, and fire—and highlights the narratives that emerge from physically collecting and displaying objects, especially as life becomes increasingly digital. “We live, arrange, watch, and rest in death in boxes, and this collection is a testament to the absurdity and wonder that is life,” Buchanan says.

Out of the Box is published by Eight Books and is currently available in the U.K. Find more from Buchanan on his site.

 

A book opens to a spread featuring text and two smaller photos of wooden sculptures on the left and a boxy sculpture on wheels with branches emerging from the top on the right

A collection of small blue dots arranged by size in a gradient within a wooden frame

A drawer that opens to reveal smaller wooden and cardboard boxes and some are painted with grave waves

A book spread with the left page featuring text and three boxy constructions and the right page showing a photo of an orange and white device with an attena

A wooden sculpture on wheels with innumerable rusty nails jutting out

A white frame that gradually expands toward the right. Small figurines are seating inside

Two Out of the Box books, one stacked on top of the other

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article A New Book Celebrates the Playful and Imaginative Interpretations of Working ‘Out of the Box’ appeared first on Colossal.

Photographer refuses award after winning top prize with image made by AI

By in Photography

Photographer refuses award after winning top prize with image made by AI

A German photographer has turned down a prestigious prize after revealing that his winning photograph was created using artificial intelligence.

Boris Eldagsen was named the winner in the creative open category at the Sony World Photography Awards, with his black and white photograph Pseudomnesia / The Electrician. The image shows a young woman standing in front of the camera while an older woman stands behind her.

However, one week after he won the prize, Eldagsen shared a statement on his website announcing that he “would not accept the awards”.

“I applied as a cheeky monkey, to find out, if the competitions are prepared for AI images to enter. They are not,” he wrote.

“We, the photo world, need an open discussion. A discussion about what we want to consider photography and what not. Is the umbrella of photography large enough to invite AI images to enter – or would this be a mistake?”

Eldagsen, who specialises in photo and visual art, said that he “hoped to speed up this debate” by refusing the award.

He suggested that “if you dont know what to do with the prize, please donate it to the fotofestival in Odesa, Ukraine”.

A spokesperson for the World Photography Organisation said that Eldagsen told them he had “co-created” the image using AI before he was announced as the winner.

“As per the rules of the competition, the photographers provide the warranties of their entry,” they told The Guardian.

“The creative category of the open competition welcomes various experimental approaches to image making from cyanotypes and rayographs to cutting-edge digital practices. As such, following our correspondence with Boris and the warranties he provided, we felt that his entry fulfilled the criteria for this category, and we were supportive of his participation.”

The WPO added that they had additionally “welcomed Boris’s wish for dialogue”, but had suspended working with him after he declined the award.

“Given his actions and subsequent statement noting his deliberate attempts at misleading us, and therefore invalidating the warranties he provided, we no longer feel we are able to engage in a meaningful and constructive dialogue with him,” they said.

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