The Generative Museum is an experimental project that invites audiences to explore the ICA Pittsburgh galleries in the virtual realm as construction continues on its new home in the Richard King Mellon Hall of Sciences.
A collaboration with the international nonprofit arts organization KADIST, with scenography by the artist-run virtual exhibition space EPOCH, The Generative Museum places ICA’s building in an imaginary landscape, where visitorscan explore its surreal surroundings and enter its galleries. Once inside, visitors can curate exhibitions in real-time through AI prompts that source works from international and local collections of contemporary art, including those that aren’t otherwise visible to the public. The initiative also includes presentations of digital artworks co-curated by the ICA and KADIST.
In Unseen Forces 1.0, visitors are invited to enter their words, feelings, perspectives, and questions into an AI platform that transforms these prompts into a curated exhibition of contemporary art. In a world where many people turn to Google searches, and increasingly to Chat GPT, Unseen Forces 1.0 provides an artistic response to personal ruminations. (This experience is optimized for your desktop).
The artworks are drawn from a database including approximately 175 artworks from private and public collections in Pittsburgh, as well as approximately 1,000 paintings, photographs, and works on paper selected from KADIST’s international collection of contemporary art.
On ICA’s virtual second floor, visitors encounter four different contemporary installations, each of which grapples with our changing relationship with technology and the oscillating optimism and wariness that technology inspires.
These include Kurdish artist Ahmet Öğüt’s Monuments of the Disclosed, honoring the courage of whistleblowers; Morehshin Allahyari’s Moon-Faced (ماه طلعت) uniting traditional Qajar era aesthetics with AI learning; and Holly Herndon & Mat Dryhurst video I’M HERE 17.12.2022 5:44, recreating Herndon’s memories of a coma dream. Heard throughout is the sound work masks, facades, and faces by artist and composer Joe Namy.
Second floor view of The Generative Museum, featuring artwork by Morehshin Allahyari in ICA Pittsburgh’s digital gallery 3.
Pittsburgh Collections
In addition to the KADIST collection, Unseen Forces 1.0 draws from more than 175 works from 13 private collections, including JoAnne Bates, Patrica Bova & Lucas Ragazzi, Yvonne Cook, Chris and Dawn Fleischner, the Greer Lankton Collection courtesy of Mattress Factory Museum, Collection of Ellen and Jack Kessler, O’Brien Art Foundation Collection, Marty O’Brien Collection of American Art courtesy of the O’Brien Art Foundation, Laura Heberton-Shlomchik and Mark Shlomchik, Henry Simonds, the Tomayko Foundation, a private collection courtesy of ZYNKA Gallery, as well as an additional private collection.
A full artist list from these collections follows below.
Jo-Anne Bates Benny Andrews, Romare Bearden, Tina Brewer, Eduardo Chillida, Vanessa German, Robert Qualters and Gail Ghai, Sam Gilliam, Joan Iversen Goswell, Jonathan Green, Aaronel de Roy Gruber, Richard Hunt, Lois Mailou Jones, Charlotte Ka, Marie Kelly, Tim Rollins & KOS, Amani Lewis, David Lewis, Ayanah Moor, Jo-Anne Bates & Ayanah Moor, Anire Mosley, George Nama, Chris Ofili, Girts Purins, Diane Samuels, Raymond Saunders, Renee Stout, Marvin Touré, Peter J. Wargo
Patrick Bova & Lucas Regazzi Luz Carabaño, Elene Chantladze, Lisa Smolkin
Yvonne Cook Ray Anthony Barrett, Sanford Biggers, Victoria Cassinova, Willie Cole, June Edmonds, Patrick Eugène, Marcus Jahmal, February James, Jo Ann Jones, Samuel Levi Jones, Arvie Smith, Lisa Diane Wedgeworth
Chris and Dawn Fleischner Firelei Baez, Tina Brewer, Lenka Clayton, Corey Escoto, Charles Gaines, David Hockney, Deborah Kass, Jacob Lawrence, Odili Donald Odita, Marina Rheingantz, Ed Ruscha, Tajh Rust, Lorna Simpson, Stanley Whitney
The Greer Lankton Collection courtesy of Mattress Factory Museum Greer Lankton
Collection of Ellen and Jack Kessler Yuji Agematsu, Henni Alftan, Sadie Benning, Roger Brown, Jane Dickson, Lois Dodd, Sanaa Gateja, Torbjørn Rødland, Mark Rothko, Maja Ruznic, Thu Van Tran, Stanley Whitney, Didier William
O’Brien Art Foundation Collection Sally Cook, Ethel Fisher, Carl Pickhardt, Saul Steinberg
Marty O’Brien Collection of American Art courtesy of the O’Brien Art Foundation Clinton Adams, Dennis Beall, Jan Gelb, Herman Maril, Joe Overstreet, Mavis Pusey, Krishna Reddy, Thomas Sills, Marina Stern, Sam Tchakalian
Laura Heberton-Shlomchik and Mark Shlomchik Noah Addis, Khalik Allah, Hannah Altman, Ellen Birkenblit, Nydia Blas, Bernd Hausmann, Deanna Mance, Rania Matar, Duane Michals, Ed Panar, Lydia Panas, Hannah Price, Lauren Semivan, Toko Shinoda, Raymond Thompson, Stephen Towns, Alisha Wormsley
Henry Simonds Sam Abell, Matthew Van Asselt, Brandon Ballengée, Julie Blackmon, Claudio Cambon, Liu Di, Alinka Echeverria, Deanna Mance, Akihiko Miyoshi, Brian Oglesbee, Mikael Owunna, Garrett Pruter, Bridget Quirk, Bleda y Rosa, Swoon, Robert Voit, Antonia Wright
Tomayko Foundation Patricia Chiacu Apuzzo, David Aschkenas, Gavin Benjamin, Elizabeth Myers Castonguay, Ron Donoughe, Fabrizio Gerbino, Christine Lorenz, Chris McGinnis, Clayton Merrell, Ed Panar, Joyce Werie Perry, Robert Qualters, Michele Randall, Mia Tarducci, Barbara Weissberger
Private collection, courtesy of ZYNKA Gallery Kyle Barnes, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Gavin Benjamin, Chuck Close, Douglas Cooper, Nicole Eisenman, Fabrizio Gerbino, Vanessa German, Anastas Konstantinov, Robert Longo, Martin Mull, David Salle, Benjamin Spiers, Andy Warhol, Natalie Westbrook, Eric Zener
