Sofia Crespo’s Artificial Life

Sofia Crespo is a generative artist working with AI at the intersection of biology and technology. Born in Argentina and currently residing in Berlin, Sofia takes inspiration from printed books and natural history. She uses neural networks to create artificial life and generative lifeforms that resemble the natural world around us — fish, birds, insects, mammals, plants and landscapes. Look closer and you will spot the nuanced distortions generated by her use of GAN (Generative Adversarial Networks).

We asked Sofia a series of questions we'd like to share with you. Enjoy.

Where are you from and where do you live?

Originally from Argentina but have lived abroad for the last decade. Right now I'm based in Berlin.

What sparked your interest in artificial intelligence and GAN art?

A friend once bought me a ticket to attend a workshop by Gene Kogan on AI art as a birthday present. Before that point, I was already interested in AI art, but I didn't know that it was possible for me to actually do it, after that workshop, my interest and motivation grew and I ended up diving into it as a practice.

Was there one specific moment that you decided to take on art as a career choice?

Can't say I decided to take on art as a career from the very beginning, but certainly, at some point, I had to decide between going to university or having an artistic career. Some people can do several things at once and really admire that, in my case, it was one or another, and the choice ended up being art. I'm happy to have chosen that even though it meant taking a huge risk at the time!

{unfolding_2121}, 2020

What programs do you use to create your work and why?

There's not one single program that I use, but instead, a combination of different things, depending on what I want to do. The reason for not narrowing to one specific tool is that I believe art is meant to transcend the tool used, yes, maybe now I use CNNs or GANs to make these works, but in the future who knows what I'll use. In generative arts, I see that there's tons of focus on the tools, whereas, in other art disciplines like painting, there isn't that big of a focus on the type of canvas or paintbrush that a single artist uses, it's more about what motif the work has and maybe what the piece represents.

For me, an important part of being an artist is about exploring and discussing what we create and why, not how. If we forget to consciously engage with what we do and why, also with others, we run the risk of turning our work to the niche of tech demos, which usually serve a different and more defined purpose in contrast to art. Art has that wonderful property of creating a rich interaction with the viewer, one that we should explore and try to make as rich as possible.

Your work is reminiscent of natural history and encyclopedic books. Where do you find your inspiration? Have you always been interested in biology and nature studies?

My inspiration stems mainly from books. I've always been fascinated by the history of science, be it the history of math or natural history. What I love about natural history is that it is concerned with how we built a framework to make sense of the world around us. It is amazing to see how ideas have changed throughout time and accordingly, how we see the world.

We feel you are creating a world of GAN-created creatures. What is your dream space for these creatures to live in?

They live in the imagination of those who see them! We are a part of nature, as it is a part of us. When we work digitally this allows us to consider the imagination as a natural ecosystem for artificial, digital lifeforms. One equal to any digital context we might endeavor to create.

{realisation_5324}, 2020

Do you know what you want to see as the final outcome or do you allow the process to dictate it?

There's a rational and intuitive part of the process. Although I do know most of the time initially what I want to create, a part of me always tries to stay detached and let some randomness and change of directions happen. Sometimes I will generate thousands of variations, leave the folder with all those outputs sit for a week, and then come back to look at it with fresh eyes. It's in a way like having someone else look at your art, and judge it.

How do you feel about exhibiting your work as prints versus digitally?

This really depends on which work I'm showing. If it's a video I would rather have it shown on a screen, some of my works are printed by me manually, and in that case, I like showing those as the object that they are. We're also working on an exhibition where we 3D print a whole generated ecosystem, and it feels right to show a physical piece like that, although it's just so much work. Having said that, digital is always the most natural way to exhibit them, and you can't really go wrong with that.

What is your dream location to exhibit your work?

Showing my work in places where people go when they want to learn about nature and science. Botanical Gardens or Natural History Museums are among my favorites. Although I would also like to have my work available in an open public space, this is because I believe that art as part of our daily experience can be very beneficial to nurturing our minds and ideas.

How would you explain what you do to a 5 year old?

It's easy to underestimate how much 5-year-olds know about technology these days, but guess I would say: "I'm a painter but my paintbrush is my computer, which can learn from the things I like and make nice images for me!".

What is your piece of advice for aspiring artists in the digital space?

It's important to know that breaking things is just a part of making things. Running into bugs, computers crashing on losing all your files is just part of the practice, and don't forget to keep practicing! Also, don't forget to nurture your own voice and interests. With technology its easy to get caught up in keeping up with all the shiny new bits of tech, but often what becomes the strongest works and experiences are those we take the time to develop. There's a fair deal of craftsmanship to the digital space, to me there's no difference in mastering drawing with a pencil or drawing with digital tools: both require investing in our own technique and style, learning the tool(s) well enough that they can communicate what we wish to say.

{embrace_3030}, 2019