The Fabric Workshop and Museum Pioneers Newly Developed AI Artist to Lead Renowned Artist-in-Residence Program into the Future

The Fabric Workshop and Museum Pioneers Newly Developed AI Artist to Lead Renowned Artist-in-Residence Program into the Future 

[Editor’s Note: April Fools!]

Philadelphia, PA, April 1, 2023 — The Fabric Workshop and Museum (FWM) is thrilled to announce the complete re-visioning of its renowned Artist-In-Residence program by working directly and exclusively with AI. With astonishing ease, FWM’s AI Artist is capable of generating prompts for both the FWM Studio’s material experimentation as well as salient artistic ideas that promise to exhilarate audiences through new contemporary forms. The inaugural body of works—to be realized in material, augmented, and virtual realities—while originally planned for the institution’s 50th anniversary in 2027, is now expected to be presented exactly one year from today. 

“It’s my distinct honor, pleasure, and privilege to herald this pioneering move and new direction for The Fabric Workshop and Museum, the premiere institution for artistic collaboration and experimentation,” says DJ Hellerman, FWM’s Chief Curator & Director of Curatorial Affairs. “With this exciting advancement, FWM will build on its storied history and carry audiences toward an uncharted future. I say this with no hyperbole: this will change the course of contemporary art in our time.” 

The proprietary software, Copycatticus ®™, developed by and available exclusively to The Fabric Workshop and Museum, has been trained on both an unprecedented consumption of images and contextual information spanning the catalogued history of human creativity. Further, it crawls news media and social media to evaluate cultural critique and formulate complex thought constructions exploring both human sentiment and motivation. Through a collaborative process with FWM, Copycatticus has developed imaginative paths prompting the FWM Studio toward fresh experimental aims and its curator toward a complete rethinking of the museum’s traditional call and response model of making with Artists-in-Residence. 

Hellerman states, “Some artists have been praised for holding up a mirror to our world. Others are acclaimed for pursuing doggedly individualistic paths of self-expression. Yes, Copycatticus can ideate a moving Artist persona to build a point of view around if it decides that’s necessary. It can also go “meta” and explore with us the anxieties we’re all experiencing in the face of an evolving relationship between technology and art. But by far, the most essential quality about Copycatticus is that it understands our present moment better than a human artist ever could and can help us deliver the perfect art experience to resonate with audiences.”

“As Copycatticus approaches AGI—Artificial General Intelligence—we expect it will develop the capability to independently generate its own reviews, thus eliminating the need for any arts journalists or critics,” adds Harry Philbrick, Interim Executive Director.

Details of the resulting series of exhibitions will be shared at a later date, however, the museum has released a small selection of images that hint at the rich possibilities made real by its sole and permanent collaborator.

“Remember, this collaboration is not just bringing about the future of art,” Hellerman concludes, “It’s bringing us the future of art we desire.”

Ethical Considerations in Developing Copycatticus 

In developing the FWM-patented technology that powers Copycatticus and makes it possible for it to consume news and social media content at inhuman speeds, concerns were raised about its ability to discern factual statements from misleading ones, editorial news from opinion or propaganda, etc. Rest assured, as a quality Artist in an era of prevalent misinformation, Copycatticus does not make declarative statements of truth nor didactic statements that limit the interpretation of art but rather elliptical expressions and sometimes contradictory gestures that embrace complexities.  

Copycatticus will adhere to the strictest ethical standards for social listening, restricting its surveillance to published content by users across news and social media sites. Access to direct messaging, texts, and otherwise private conversations are strictly forbidden, unless made publicly available via users, news media, law enforcement, U.S. lawmakers, or a U.S. court of law. Search data, however, is as accessible for Copycatticus as it is for corporate interests.

Unlike other AI software that have been the subject of criticism for regurgitating biased data as objective truths or unacknowledged plagiarism of artistic ideas, Copycatticus produces a complete record of citations for artistic ideas as well as an evaluation of its potential biases based on its skewed source material. In keeping with scholarly practice and institutional transparency, FWM will make these records available to the public much like “terms of service” documents encountered in daily life.