Transference

Transference is a digital art project in which the artist cedes aesthetic control to artificial intelligence. Building on a series of 20 digital paintings—each 15” x 15” and most featuring a circle within a square—the project explores the interplay between human intuition and machine perception.

The AI is tasked with continuing the series, making all creative decisions independently. The work asks: How does a machine perceive human-made abstraction? Can it recognize and use deviations from pattern? Can it understand, amplify, or reinterpret human creative impulses? Or will its output reduce the series to mathematical extrapolation?

The experiment unfolds across three tracks:

1. Track One: The AI predicts the next image based on the original 20, with memory cleared after each pass. Hypothesis: outcomes will converge to near-identical results.

2. Track Two: Memory is retained after each pass. Hypothesis: subtle to significant variations will emerge.

3. Track Three: The AI continually incorporates each new image into its training for subsequent predictions. Hypothesis: outcomes will diverge dramatically over time.

The resulting works—80 small images in total—will be displayed alongside explanatory texts describing each track. By surrendering control to AI, Transference investigates perception, pattern, and creativity, revealing both the machine’s logic and its interpretation of human abstraction.