Transdimensional Gestures and Post-digital Art

I introduce myself as an “artist-futurist,” blending art and foresight to help reshape culture. My background was in trend research, but art became a crucial way for me to explore how technology shapes our world. My early work, like iManifesto, was inspired by the iPhone’s impact—revealing a new, silent dimension technology was creating.

Collaborating with Kunumi on Neural, an AI-generated rap by the late rapper Sabotage, was a milestone. It was the first time AI enabled posthumous digital authorship, a project that drew me deeper into the realm of decentralized culture. Now, with my upcoming NFT series, Lexus Novus, I’m exploring digital permanence through three-dimensional drawings that embody this virtual world.

All of this was discussed in an interview I gave to curator and professor Rafael Vogt Maia Rosa. [link]

Gestos Transdimensionais e a Arte Pós-digital

Eu me apresento como um “artista-futurista”, unindo arte e estudos de futuros para ajudar a reprogramar a cultura. Minha formação inicial foi em pesquisa de tendências, mas a arte tornou-se uma forma essencial de explorar como a tecnologia molda nosso mundo. Meu trabalho inicial, como o iManifesto, foi inspirado pelo impacto do iPhone, revelando uma nova dimensão silenciosa que a tecnologia estava criando.

Colaborar com a Kunumi no Neural, um rap gerado por IA do falecido rapper Sabotage, foi um marco. Foi a primeira vez que a IA permitiu uma autoria digital póstuma, um projeto que me levou ainda mais ao universo da cultura descentralizada. Agora, com minha próxima série de NFTs, Lexus Novus, exploro a permanência digital por meio de desenhos tridimensionais que personificam esse mundo virtual.

Tudo isso foi discutido em uma entrevista que dei ao curador e professor Rafael Vogt Maia Rosa. [link]

The rise of Hypersurrealism

Surrealism, a cultural and artistic movement that emerged in the early 20th century, was characterized by its explorations of the irrational and expeditions in the unconscious. The movement was led by figures such as André Breton, Salvador Dali, and Max Ernst, who sought to tap into the power of the unconscious mind to create works of art that were both unsettling and liberating.

The concept of surrealism represented a radical departure from the prevailing artistic trends of the time, which emphasized realism and naturalism. Surrealists rejected these traditional modes of representation, instead drawing upon dream imagery, symbolic language, and other forms of irrational thought to create works of art that challenged viewers' perceptions, expectations and conceptual borders.

Over the years, surrealism has continued to influence and inspire artists, writers, and thinkers across a range of disciplines. However, with the advent of artificial intelligence, we are now witnessing a new era of artistic exploration - one that takes the principles of surrealism to a whole new level. We are at the rise of Hypersurealism.

Lines and circles, 2023 ® Chewy Stoll (@chewystoll)

The concept of "hyper" generally stands for something that is excessive, beyond normal, or over-the-top. In various contexts, "hyper" can be used as a prefix to describe an exaggerated state or condition, such as hyperactive (excessively active), hypersensitive (overly sensitive), or hyperbole (exaggerated statement). In computer technology, "hyper" is often used in reference to hyperlinks or hypertext, which are ways of linking information within electronic documents or websites. Additionally, the term "hyper" can refer to hyperrealism, which is an art style that depicts objects or scenes with a level of detail that is almost indistinguishable from reality.

In contrast to hyperrealism stands hypersurrealism.

Hypersurrealism encompasses this art style that seeks to explore the intricate details and high-resolution imagery found within the realms of the imaginary, the subconscious, and the unconscious. Diverging from hyperrealism, hypersurrealism does not aim for a faithful representation of reality, but rather embraces a hyperrepresentation of the inaccurate, the dreamlike, and even the abstract. This opens up a vast expanse of possibilities, transcending the boundaries between forms, genders, species, and categories that were once unimaginable.

Thanks to the advent of deep learning techniques and the emergence of new large language models and generative image algorithms, these possibilities are now achievable - in high-definition. This remarkable advancement unleashes a fresh lexicon of images into the art world and visual cultures, expanding the boundaries of artistic expression and visual storytelling.

AI functions as a mind's camera, as aptly stated by the esteemed artist Claire Silver in her Twitter musings. However, AI's image generation capabilities extend beyond a mere mental apparatus; it acts as a soul's camera. It enables us to venture into the depths of the unconscious with unprecedented depth. Through the utilization of sophisticated algorithms and machine learning techniques, we now possess the capacity to produce artworks that surpass their predecessors in terms of surreality, unsettling qualities, and immersive experiences.

The advancements of Hypersurrealism herald a novel frontier in artistic expression. This movement both builds upon the foundations laid by surrealism and expands its horizons in novel and enthralling ways. As we continue to navigate this nascent field, we can only fathom the uncharted realms of the unconscious that await our discovery and the artistic prospects that will emerge in consequence.

New visual cultures unfolding from Hypersurrealism

0418, 2023 by Masanobu Hiraoka (@budou_mochi)

As we delve into the enigmatic realm of hypersurrealism, we realize that its allure extends also beyond the boundaries of artificial intelligence. Encompassing a diverse range of digital artistic expressions and potentially even material art forms yet to emerge. It stands as a captivating trend to keep a close eye on in the years to come, as it infiltrates contemporary art and permeates visual cultures at large.

Hyperssurealism started to become a catalyst for artistic innovation, prompting visionaries like the creative virtuoso Joe Pease to explore other avenues of expression like old school video art montages or cartoonish extrapolations as seen in the works of Masanobu Hiraoka. This imparts a delightful twist to hypersurrealism, surpassing the confines of AI (even though AI seems to be the talk of the town these days, everywhere we look).

Open the Floodgates, 2022 - Joe Pease (@joepease)

In this ever-evolving landscape, hypersurrealism thrives as a vibrant force, embracing the quirks of human creativity. Moreover, as it expand towards the space outside the screensphere, it holds the potential to inspire and shape the emergence of novel material art forms, which may further enrich and expand the realm of hypersurrealistic experiences.

I would be delighted to conclude this mini-essay leaving you with a piece from Joe Pease. His is a kind of artwork that expands the boundaries of the the hypersurreal and emerges as a more palpable digital artifact then what we deal with on a daily basis.

Synchronicities in the Artsphere

Browsing trough old archives I found these personal photographs from the first Tunga’s individual exhibition after his death back in 2016 - Pálpebras at Galeria Milan in Sao Paulo, Brazil. These captivating pieces of Tunga’s sculpture work bear a striking resemblance to a three-dimensional manifestations of my long-standing drawing practice, which I have coined as Biograms.

Within these frames, we witness an intriguing convergence of art forms, where this Tunga's exquisite series evoke a mesmerizing resonance with the intricacies of my own specific artistic practice towards the life of the biograms or, in other words, the life of lines - presented here in tridimensional forms. These artworks, reminiscent of biological topographies and microlandscapes, serve as a bridge between my years of dedicated sketching of the biograms and the tangible expressions brought forth by Tunga's visionary craftsmanship at the last phase of his poetics. Which gives meaning to my own path to serve as a kind of bridge to the evolutions of this imagination territory.

Beyond these personal photographic archives and this playful coincidence of forms, lays a more intriguing convergence, since over the past three years, I have had the privilege of developing a close collaboration with Mario Vitor Marques, Tunga's principal assistant and his head of commercial affairs during the outstanding career of the artist. Together, we have embarked on a groundbreaking project called Labirinto, which connects a vibrant community of collectors and artists from around the world. Labirinto serves as a transformative platform that fosters meaningful connections and collaborations within the art world, further expanding the boundaries of artistic exploration.

Within the realm of these personal archives of mine and the convergence of Tunga's visionary posthumous presented series, we encounter a serendipitous alignment that extends beyond mere coincidence. In this amalgamation of art and collaboration, we witness how synchronicities in artsphere can ignite profound resonances, fostering movements that expand cultural horizons. Art becomes the radar that decodes and amplifies culture, propelling us forward and ensuring the perpetual motion of our world.

Humaning drawings trough Ingold's life of lines

I am humaning, you are humaning, they are humaning. Finally, we are all humaning. Human is a verb. I learned that from Tim Ingold - professor and researcher of social anthropology at the University of Aberdeen, UK. Ingold became the basis for my recent art research that is prospecting many of the ideas and concepts from his book "The Life of Lines" (2015). This book, as well as all ramifications of Ingold's research on lines, became a foundation for my already extensive practice of the so called biograms.

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Tim Ingold’s book cover for his second work about Lines.

In Lines: a brief history, his 2007’s precursor and first book on the subject, Ingold founds an anthropology of the line, which is a sensitive and expansive, integrative and inclusive approach to an all new anthropology of lines touching the domains of dance, art, architecture, music and, more recently, time, biology and ecology.

Ingold unfolds these correlations through and uses the written media as an expression for it, while I have tried myself to find an aesthetic cognition that uses line drawings to feed a similar objective: studying and exploring the nature of the line and its relationships with the blobs also a formfactor explored by Ingold.

Reading Ingold is a profound encounter with myself and with the human. From the joy of finding an eternal companion of research and studies to the certainty that the body of my drawing now has an unremarkable skeleton and musculature defied by this new filed of scientific research. The journey through the strange world of lines and biograms has gained a sense of security so that I can launch myself into what Ingold himself defines as the main task for contemporary social sciences: transforming human sciences and the social sciences into a more open, more speculative and, above all, more experiential and experimental field of developments for humanity.

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A vida das linhas de Tim Ingold e a humanação do desenho.

Eu humano, tu humanas, ele humana. Enfim, nós humanamos. Humano é um verbo. Aprendi isso com Tim Ingold - professor e pesquisador de antropologia social da universidade de Aberdeen, no Reino Unido. Ingold se tornou base para na minha recente descoberta de seu seu livro "A vida das linhas" (The Life of Lines - livro de 2015 ainda não traduzido para o português). Este livro, bem como todas as ramificações da pesquisa de Ingold sobre as linhas, tornaram-se base fundamental e fundadora para o meu já extenso estudo sobre os biogramas.

Biogram 02 : 46 Mixed Emotions | L3XVS_N0VU5 collection

Em Lines: a brief history, seu precursor e primeiro livro sobre o tema de 2007, Ingold funda uma antropologia da linha, que é uma vertente sensível e expansiva, integrativa e inclusiva sobre os momentos em que tal antropologia da linha toca a dança, a arte, a arquitetura, a música e, mais recentemente, o tempo, a biologia, a ecologia e, funda com isso, o ato de humanar. 

Ingold desdobra essas correlações através de um pensamento que se usa da mídia escrita como expressão, ao passo que eu tenho tentado fundar uma cognição estética que se usa do desenho e suas expressões pós-digitais para alimentar o mesmo fim. Ato que consta em meu já longo estudo e prática dos biogramas.

Ler Ingold é um encontro profundo comigo e com o humano. Da alegria de encontrar um companheiro eterno de buscas e estudos à certeza de que o corpo de meu desenho  agora possui um esqueleto e uma musculatura inquebrantáveis. A viagem pelo estranho mundo das linhas e dos biogramas ganhou um conforto e uma segurança para que possamos nos lançar àquilo que o próprio Ingold define como a tarefa da contemporaneidade: transformar as ciências humanas e as ciências sociais em áreas mais aberta, mais especulativas e, acima de tudo, mais experienciais e experimentais.