Dr Colin Johnson
Digital Scholarship Fellow September - December 2019
Home Institution: University of Kent
Project: Artificial Intelligence and the Visual Arts
I am currently a reader in the School of Computing at the University of Kent. My research interests are in artificial intelligence, particularly creative intelligence. This has involved me in a wide variety of projects, including work to improve AI algorithms and the kinds of problems that AI can tackle, and the use of AI in music, mathematics, engineering, bioinformatics, and the digital humanities.
During my fellowship at Edinburgh I will be working on a book project analysing the use of AI in the visual arts. In recent years a number of artists have started to work with AI as a medium or tool. I will be exploring the complex role of AI in these creative acts, in particular questions around whether AI can be seen as a sophisticated medium or as an active collaborator with artists (or something inbetween?). I am also keen to explore how we can apply and develop theories of aesthetics and artistic critique in the context of AI, and develop stronger links between theoretical discourse in the arts and in computational creativity.