Homepage of Stability AI website. Courtesy Wikicommons.
New Ruling in Artists Versus AI Lawsuit
California district court judge William H. Orrick ruled that a group of ten artists may proceed with copyright claims against companies that have used their artworks to train AI technologies. However, the decision also granted appeals from the defendants—major text-to-image providers such as Stability AI, Midjourney, DeviantArt, and Runaway AI—dismissing accusations that the companies have infringed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act; profited unfairly from the artists’ work; or violated “the covenant of good faith and fair dealing.” The original lawsuit was filed in January 2023, when American artists Kelly McKernan, Sarah Anderson, and Karla Ortiz submitted a complaint against Stability AI. The suit was dismissed by the court in October but, the following month, the artists submitted 455 pages worth of supplementary evidence to the court. Their amended claim included a list containing the names of 16,000 artists whose work Midjourney allegedly used to train its AI image generator. In a statement written to Hyperallergic, Matthew Butterick and Joseph Saveri, the lawyers representing the artists, stated that the “plaintiffs’ central claims [of copyright violation] will now proceed to discovery and trial.”
Interior view of ANISH KAPOOR’s Sectional Body Preparing for Monadic Singularity, 2015, PVC and steel, 7.32 × 7.32 × 7.32 m, at the Chateau de Versailles, 2015. Courtesy Liverpool Cathedral.
Liverpool to Host Massive Anish Kapoor Installations
The Liverpool Cathedral is currently hosting “Monadic Singularity,” a solo exhibition by the renowned British Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor, in celebration of the cathedral’s centenary. Set to run until September 15, the exhibition marks the artist’s first major solo show in Liverpool since his 1983 exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery. The admission-free exhibition features works spanning the last 25 years of Kapoor’s career, including the large crimson cuboid sculpture Sectional Body Preparing for Monadic Singularity (2015). One of Kapoor’s kinetic wax sculptures is on display in the Main Space, while additional works will be showcased in the Lady Chapel and Ambulatory. Very Reverend Sue Jones, dean of Liverpool Cathedral, stated: “This exhibition promises to be a profound meeting of creativity and spirituality, inspiring all who visit.”
NOLI RICTOR in front of Kamanti, 2023, synthetic polymer paint on linen, 290 × 200 cm. Photo by Charlie Bliss. Courtesy Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory.
Major Aboriginal Art Prize Names Winner
The 2024 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA) has announced Pitjantjatjara artist Noli Rictor as the recipient of its AUD 100,000 (USD 66,000) top prize. A panel of three judges—Kamilaroi curator Keith Munro, Kullilli/Yuggera curator Katina Davidson, and Wangkajunga cultural adviser Putuparri Tom Lawford—selected Rictor for his large-scale work Kamanti (2023), citing its “expert use of color and composition.” The painting depicts a pair of water serpents roaming the Spinifex Lands, from the father-son creation story Wati Kutjara Tjukurpa (“Two Men Creation Line”). Spinifex Arts Project’s studio manager, Riley Adams Brown, stated on behalf of the artist: “[w]inning’s made me really happy, really proud, and the money coming [through] made me even happier.” Established by the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in 1984, the NATSIAA is the nation’s largest and most historic Indigenous art competition. Now in its 41st year, the annual award saw 72 finalists from across Australia. An additional six Indigenous artists have won prizes across several categories, each taking home AUD 15,000 (USD 9,900).
GEMMA SMITH, Pollen Prism, 2023, acrylic on canvas, 136 × 121 cm. Photo by Anna Kucera. Courtesy Mosman Art Gallery.
Gemma Smith Wins Mosman Art Prize
The AUD 70,000 (USD 46,300) Mosman Art Prize, the oldest and most prestigious municipal art prize in Australia, has been awarded to Sydney-based artist Gemma Smith for her painting Pollen Prism (2023). The abstract layered work was created during her residency at Art Omi in New York state’s Hudson Valley. Smith said that while “the heat and humidity of high summer” complicated the conditions of her material application, ultimately “the expansive lush green of the New York rural summer around the studio was overwhelming” and inspired her painting, which shared a bright yellow color with local bee pollen. Australian curator and writer Julie Ewington, who was this year’s judge, described Smith’s entry as “an ode to sensuality” and commended her exploration of color and gesture. Smith has become a prominent figure in contemporary painting, and her work has been acquired by major institutional collections across Australia. The winning artworks will be on view at the Mosman Art Gallery in northern Sydney, home to some of Australia’s most treasured paintings, until October 6.
MARIKO MORI, Miko No Inori, 1996, single-channel video, VHS, transferred to digital, color, sound: 29 min 23 sec. Courtesy the artist.
Melbourne Showcases Female-Centric SciFi
On August 3, the University of Melbourne’s Science Gallery, in collaboration with Singapore’s ArtScience Museum, opened “SCI-FI: Methodologies Transformed.” The exhibition spotlights alternative ideas on the science-fiction genre, from a predominantly female, Asia-Pacific viewpoint. Building on the success of their previous collaboration, “New Eden,” this second iteration blends “narratives found in Western literary and cinematic genre” with Asian spiritual studies, highlighting the connection between the two. Honor Harger, the vice president of ArtScience Museum, announced that the exhibition draws from science fiction as a starting point but shifts the perspective from its traditionally male-dominated origins to a more diverse and inclusive exploration of the genre. Among the featured works are Mariko Mori’s pivotal video work Miko No Inori (1996) and Patty Chang’s Mountain (Shangri-La) (2005), a slowly rotating structure of mirrors that reflects light and the viewer into the surrounding space. Having opened as recently as 2022, the Melbourne Science Gallery aims to “transform curious minds through arts and science.”