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Creating Monochrome Digital Paintings out of ChatGPT

3/23/2024, 9:42:56 AM | Jeanyoon Choi

Original Notes (Pre-LLM)

An idea of making an interactive Monochrome → Generated on top of bunch of texts, bunch of ChatGPT/LLM-generated texts

Monochrome (단색화) Korean Most popular painting approach, a sense of materiality, diving deeper into it, the ultimate position of the abstraction, compared to the descriptiveness..

On the other hand, there is descriptiveness: Language. Language is there to describe and is rarely used for abstraction. Of course, there is an abstractive layer - poems for example, but it’s far from the daily usage. especially the language represented by the ChatGPT nowadays - Most people might agree that ChatGPT is capable of writing descriptive/repetitive texts which already exists, but rarely can create a new poem or new layer of abstraction, other than mimicking the pre-existing styles of poems.

My key theme: What happens if the data/AI-generated output/any descriptive/metaphysical output is converted if aggregated massively and repeated massively? I believe that ΣPart ≠ Whole. Part’s characteristic is transformed into a different dimension when aggregated as a whole. Its characteristics are converted, 일종의 왜곡을 겪는다… 성질적 변환이 이 속에서 일어난다.

This is the theme explored in my latest artwork ≠ → Where the sum of algorithm-generated results creates an abstractive layer, a layer of chaos. The part is interpretable and logical, ‘=’. The part is non-interpretable, illogical, chaotic, ‘ ≠’. It presents the aggregated chaos: Capturing the illogicality that is always presented with the seemingly logical systems, highlighting the limitation of the logic.

The same might be possible within this monochrome approach? Maybe aesthetically referencing the old Laboratory Occupied project…. Aggregated Text might present a monochrome! Text is descriptive, meaningful… But the aggregated text is not meaningful at all, it’s diminished… Containing no meaning… It’s just a materiality, text is just consumed as material, ChatGPT is consumed as material, its meaning is diminished and disappeared…

Monochrome… Monochrome…. The infinite layers of meaning? No meaning? Meaning aggregated → No meaning?

Now how to implement: Multi-Channel, single interactive input via keyboard. Upon keyword on six channels output chatgpt real-time generates some texts (should be generated accordingly to some meaning, idk what meaning/context will this be)... These texts, increasingly accelerates its accumulation speed as the interaction gets deeper… Now the screen is fulfilled with text (see the project untitled for example) and the layer of text…. Text is no longer visible

References: Glenn Ligon, Jenny Holzer (yet not necessarily blurring the meaning)

Meaning→ Audience will first focus on meaning, 처음에는 의미에 집착한다, … 그러다가 나중에는 의미로부터 해방될 수 있지 않을까? 의미 그 자체보다는, 기의보다는 기표 (문자 그대로, 텍스트 그대로, 잉크 그대로러써의 기표) 를 긍정하고 그것으로부터 생성되는 하나의 거대한 체계에 Immerse 되는 형식으로

Yes this might be my interpretation of immersiveness… Text-driven immersiveness, and interactivity (of starting from blank page → To accelerating to the whole monochrome) is quite important to me. This interactiivity, guiding audience from the meaning to the meaningless, from the language to the colour, from the descriptiveness to the abstraction… Is the key to the experience…

Ultimately, therefore interaction → creates abstractive output, which constantly changes, yet not clear where it is ‘changed’.

English Version (LLM-Generated)

Exploring the popular Korean painting approach, Monochrome (단색화), reveals its inherent sense of materiality and its representation as the pinnacle of abstraction, starkly contrasting descriptiveness. Prominently, the concept of language presents a unique challenge in this arena. Conventionally earmarked primarily to describe, language's usability for abstraction remains largely untested, barring its subtle expression in selective cases, like in poems. However, this, too, significantly differs from normal daily usage. The capabilities of ChatGPT, as of now, for instance, seem confined to generating descriptive or repetitive texts, mimicking existing styles, rather than creating a new abstract, poetic dimension.

The central premise of this argument hinges on the question- what's the outcome when data conclusions or AI-generated outputs are largely aggregated and reiterated? Possibly the summation of each part doesn't equivalate the whole, the properties of the individual parts undergo a transformation when joined together, assuming a different dimensionality. A classic in my latest artwork interprets this theme, where aggregating the algorithm-generated outcomes births an abstract or chaotic layer. Logically interpretable individually, when joined to form an ensemble, it ceases to make sense, presenting an aggregated chaos. It's a tribute to the inherent illogicality camouflaged within seemingly logical systems and brings to light the limitations of logic.

Can a similar abstraction be extracted from the monochrome approach? References to the old Laboratory Occupied project suggest an aggregated text might assume an aesthetic monochromatic characteristic. Even though individual texts are descriptive and meaningful, in aggregation, they become essentially meaningless, the original meaning gets lost or distorted. It becomes a consumable material, as in the case with ChatGPT, devoid of any inherent significance.

The quest for meaning or its absence in these infinite layers of monochrome is intriguing, and the possibilities are endless. The proposed procedure for accomplishing this includes a multi-channel, single interactive keyboard input. As per the selected keywords, ChatGPT generates real-time texts in six channels, the accumulation of which, paced relative to the level of interaction, gradually fills the screen. Consequently, the text becomes invisible.

Analogically, the audience's initial fixation with the intended meaning gradually wanes and their perceptions potentially liberate to perceive the symbols, beyond the intended meaning. The effects of interactivity, ushering in audiences' journey from the meaningful to the meaningless, from language to color, and from descriptiveness to abstraction are quite compelling. The transformative experience revolves around interacting with the system such that it creates an ever-changing abstract output, the modification of which cannot entirely be traced. This defines my interpretive narrative of immersiveness dominated by text and interactivity.

Korean Version (LLM-Generated)

한국의 대중적인 그림 작법인 단색화를 탐구하면서 그 고유한 재질감과 그것이 묘사의 상대적인 정점을 표현하는 것을 드러낼 수 있습니다. 특히, 언어라는 개념이 이 분야에서 독특한 도전 과제를 제시합니다. 일반적으로 묘사하기 위한 용도로 사용되는 언어의 추상적 활용성은 시의 경우처럼 선택적으로 표현되는 경우를 제외하고는 대부분 테스트되지 않았습니다. 그러나 이것 또한 일상적인 사용법과는 상당히 다릅니다. 현재로써는 ChatGPT의 기능은 기존 스타일을 흉내내는 묘사적이거나 반복적인 텍스트를 생성하는 데 제한되어 있습니다.

이 논의의 핵심 전제는 데이터 결론이나 AI가 생성하는 결과가 대체로 집계되고 반복되면 어떤 결과가 나타나는지 하는 질문에 얽혀 있습니다. 가능성은 각각의 부분의 합이 전체와 항상 동일하지 않으며, 개별 부분의 속성은 결합될 때 변형되어 다른 차원을 가지게 됩니다. 최근 제작한 작품 중에서도 알고리즘이 생성한 결과를 집계하면 추상적이거나 혼돈스러운 계층이 생기는 테마를 해석합니다. 개별적으로 논리적으로 이해할 수 있지만, 앙상블을 형성하기 위해 결합될 때 의미를 잃고, 집합적인 혼돈을 나타내게 됩니다. 이는 외견상 논리적인 시스템에 숨겨진 본질적인 비논리성에 대한 찬사이며, 논리의 한계를 밝히게 됩니다.

비슷한 추상적 특성은 단색화 접근법에서 추출할 수 있을 것인가? 이전 연구실 점령 프로젝트의 참조에서는 집합된 텍스트가 미학적인 단색적인 특성을 가지게 될 것이라는 것을 나타냅니다. 개별 텍스트는 묘사적이고 의미있지만, 집계되면 기본적으로 의미없어지며, 기존의 의미가 손실되거나 왜곡됩니다.

이 무한한 단색화의 층에서 의미를 찾으려는 탐색 혹은 부재는 흥미롭게 보이며 가능성은 무한합니다. 이를 달성하기 위한 제안하는 절차는 다중 채널의 단일 대화형 키보드 입력을 포함합니다. 선택한 키워드에 따라 ChatGPT는 여섯 개의 채널에서 실시간 텍스트를 생성하며, 이가 상호 작용 수준에 상대적으로 쌓이면 화면이 서서히 채워집니다. 결과적으로 텍스트는 보이지 않게 됩니다.

집합적인 경험이론적으로 청중의 본래의 의미에 대한 초반의 주목은 점점 사라지고, 그들의 인식은 의도한 의미를 넘어 기호를 인지할 수 있는 자유로움을 찾아갈 수 있습니다. 대화형의 효과는 유의미한 것에서 무의미한 것으로, 언어에서 색깔로, 그리고 묘사에서 추상성으로 청중을 인도하며 매우 치열합니다. 이러한 변형 경험은 시스템과의 상호작용을 통해 끊임없이 변화하는 추상적 결과물을 창출하기 때문에 그 수정 내역은 완전히 추적할 수 없게 됩니다. 이것은 내가 본 텍스트와 상호 작용에 의해 지배되는 침투적인 해석에 대한 내 이야기를 정의합니다.