Arca to Light Up Cities Around the World for New Years

The experimental artist's latest work, Untitled, plasters her sci-fi playground of paintings across a global network of screens in Los Angeles, Milan, Melbourne, New York, Seoul, Tokyo and London's Picccadilly Lights starting New Year's Day and throughout January as a part of digital arts and culture platform CIRCA's latest commission.

Keeping in line with Arca's affinity for merging art with technology, the series involved training a neural network-powered algorithm with 31 of the artist's own mixed-media paintings to create entirely new images adding even more visual permutations into the mix that blur the line between the material and artificial world.

"I hope you are compelled by these interpolated paintings of mine to take a moment and let the visual ASMR produce pleasure, allow for a moment of respite and solace, the experience of warped beauty," Arca says of the new work.

This series isn't Arca's first time working with an AI to create work either, having previously used similar algorithmic programs to generate 100 remixes of her KiCK i track "Riquiqui," as well as an ever-evolving score for MoMA's lobby.

For those unable to make it to one of the seven cities where paintings will be displayed, five limited edition hand-signed prints will be available to purchase via CIRCA's online store. Ranging in price from £122 to £1000, proceeds from the sale of prints will go towards supporting the platform's #CIRCAECONOMY initiative, which will provide two scholarships worth £15,000 each for UK students to study at Goldsmiths University on their MA Curatorial and MA Art and Ecology courses during January.

“Arca's constant forward momentum has resulted in some of the decade’s most progressive and culturally significant work," Josef O’Connor, CIRCA's Artistic Director, says. "A true polymath, I am moved by her courage and honoured to present this collaboration fusing art with technology to generate new possibilities and launch the beginning of CIRCA 2022 — a year of world-building.”

Check out some of Arca AI-assisted paintings, below, and head to CIRCA's website for more information on the upcoming screening of Untitled.

Photo courtesy of CIRCA/ Arca