Cadillac and Visionaire today unveiled the newest exhibit at Cadillac House, “AUTOPORTRAIT.” The exhibit features a welding robot, similar to the robots found on the assembly lines building Cadillac vehicles, coded to be a human-like artist. Any Cadillac House guest will be able to have their portrait sketched by robotic artist ADA0002.
The robot — named after the self-described “poetical scientist, analyst and metaphysician” Ada Lovelace (1815-1852), considered to be the world’s first computer programmer — is a pioneer of the relatively new concept of robotic artistry. The exhibit blurs the line between human and machine intelligence and examines potential consequences for the field of art.
With “AUTOPORTRAIT,” Cadillac and Visionaire explore the metaphysical lines between art, artist, value and the digital dichotomy, while confronting notions of the intrinsic meanings that may lie behind artworks created by the hand of a robot.
As audiences arrive to examine ADA’s processes in the gallery space at Cadillac House, the Advanced Drawing Automaton (ADA) examines back, selecting viewers for whom it creates a portrait. Using image processing algorithms, ADA0002 stylistically synthesizes the image of its subject, transforming the viewer from a tangible being into processed computer data and back into a unique physical object. This artifact can be taken out of the gallery context and hung on the wall at the subject’s home.
Without the pressure to sell art, the gallery space at Cadillac House is able to provide a different perspective, challenging the conventional gallery experience by creating interactive installation-based art.
“AUTOPORTRAIT” will be live at Cadillac House, located at 330 Hudson Street in New York City, from Wednesday, Oct.12-Friday, Nov. 4. The exhibit is free and open to the public from 10 a.m.-7 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on weekends.