Guli Silberstein

MIND/MIRROR 2024 “MIND/MIRROR” consists of 42 video streams, arranged as a grid on a vertical 9:16 screen, installed on a gallery wall, or placed on the floor like a sculpture. The videos are a collection of highlights from my consistent work in the last two years with AI, posted on social media to a growing community of more than 160k followers with millions of reactions. Hallucinatory, surreal, intense portraits and landscapes are included, dealing with many aspects of what it means to be human. They are showcasing diverse scenes, colours, shapes and forms, creating interesting inter-connections, while also standing on their own as mini-stories. The result is an array of facets from human life, a map of our collective culture, as captured and processed by the machine and human, to produce an overwhelming output. The impact of the installation is such as when witnessing painted glass windows in churches & cathedrals, being immersed in a grand cinema theatre or dazzled by flickering light on a tree on a summer day. It recalls the monolith in the film (dealing with AI) ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’. The installation is an urgent reflection on the power of advanced AI to produce large quantities of impactful art, fed by historical data(sets) of visual culture and combined with and ignited by the human artist’s imagination. It is also referencing the vast distribution & consumption of video on social media platforms. The ‘wall’ of the video installation is an expansion of the ‘wall’ on the phone screen we use to consume content; expansion both outside the virtual space and into the physical arena, and spreading sideways as a map of video streams. It’s an expression of the video bombardment by social media applications so prominent in our lives, both evolving and paralysing us. "MIND/MIRROR" is a celebration of the current visual richness and the interconnectedness of our digital lives. It invites contemplation on the role of technology in shaping our perception of the world and provides a visually captivating and thought-provoking experience for those who engage with it. The AI generated music accompanying the work enhances the experience and adds more layers of meaning. Guli Silberstein is a London-based digital video artist, working since his graduation from the M.A. in Media Studies program at The New School New York in 2001. Neural networks of Artificial-Intelligence, code processing and post-production work have been enabling him to create new forms of visual expression and dreamlike sequences, researching human cognition through digital technology. Winning awards and consistently showing work for more than 20 years in festivals and exhibitions such as WRO Media Art Biennale Poland, Transmediale festival Berlin, FILE São Paulo Brazil, London Short Film Festival, Bemis Center For Contemporary Arts USA, the Royal Scottish Academy Edinburgh, and many more. His videos are shown and sold on Sedition Art, LUMAS Galleries, Artpoint Paris, and on the NFT platforms MakersPlace and Foundation. Also posting video work regularly on social media, to a growing and active community of 160k+ followers.