Reinventing Values Created by Humans
Technology for Harald Schaack is just another tool to process a thought, a feeling or an idea. He is creating a reflection of our reality in his works in the dreamiest way possible. While working with content that is left behind by humans, his AI generated artworks are reinventing values that are created by humans and allowing little moments of insights to occur. The relationship between technology and artists are pushing each other’s boundaries in order the new ideas to be communicated. Art has always been a way of creation but the kind of art that Harald makes is transforming what is human into something sentimental.
How did you start including AI technologies into your work?
Harald Schaack: Before I worked as a photographer and director and finally landed in generative art, I did trainings in IT and music production. Only in times of Corona and the resulting thoughts and changes I got the idea to mix my old and new interests as well as the knowledge and education and see where that leads me.
Did working with AI help you to put your artistic vision into life? If so, how?
Harald Schaack: I firmly believe that working with AI has helped me, but not necessarily as the tool I was missing until now, but rather because it was one of the next steps to understand myself and realize what I am interested in and what makes me tick. I believe that you should always follow your flow and generative art is definitely a part of the flow I feel comfortable in and a way I like to express myself at the moment.
“I strongly believe that art should be used to give the rest of the people a view through their own eyes. We may be many, but each of us is the sum of our very own and private experiences. And this sum I consider unique.”
– Harald Schaack
Can you define your creative perspective? How do you apply this perspective to your artworks?
Harald Schaack: My creative perspective is, I think, a rather unruly one. I have developed a rather reckless approach that I can only explain through defiance. Too often the rules and parameters of an idea or project are too narrowly defined – ‘you can’t do that’ or ‘that is not how you do it’ are phrases that are incredibly annoying. So, I try not to say or even think them.
How do you interpret the relationship between technology and the artists? Where do you position your works in this spectrum?
Harald Schaack: I don’t think technology and artists have a more special relationship than any other available tool can have with an artist. Obviously, some new techniques are bigger or smaller steps, but in the end, it is just another tool to process a thought, a feeling or an idea. So, I wouldn’t make any tool stand out in particular, but would argue that any relationship that should exist between idea generator and working tool is or should be an intimate and emotional one.
Do you think that using technologies like AI changes our experience with art and how we interpret it? Is it easier or harder to create that connection?
Harald Schaack: I do think that a wide range of tools can facilitate the general approach to art, but I don’t think that AI – or any other tool – simplifies the initial thoughts and respect one should have towards art.
I strongly believe that art should be used to give the rest of the people a view through their own eyes. We may be many, but each of us is the sum of our very own and private experiences. And this sum I consider unique. Therefore, there is still a need for specific selection of tools and approaches to form and transport one’s own vision and thoughts.
”I generally seek or want to trigger some kind of understanding – or at least a brief moment of it.”
– Harald Schaack
What kind of thoughts and feelings do you aim to trigger with your works?
Harald Schaack: I think that it is difficult to summarize, but I guess that I generally seek or want to trigger some kind of understanding – or at least a brief moment of it. Like probably everyone who has a point of view, I reveal it with my art. Everyone is free to judge it – that’s none of my business – but what I hope for most is a brief moment of insight into my point of view.
I think creating with AI can be tricky because it is like an endless ocean with possibilities. How do you keep yourself grounded while creating and narrowing your thought process?
Harald Schaack: To be honest, it is still difficult for me to find a clear direction at the beginning of an idea in the non-existent framework of infinite possibilities. For me, it actually still feels like I am being abandoned and left to my own devices – but that’s probably also because I too often allow myself to think in a thousand directions at once. Often, I try to form my thoughts as abstract and word-painterly as possible only to look over the results again and again and slowly correct the individual parameters like adjusting screws.
Do you think that your creations are completely detached from reality or are they carrying some kind of prophetic qualities?
Harald Schaack: I absolutely do not think that my or these kinds of works are out of touch with reality. On the contrary, I think they are a very interesting reflection of our society and therefore our reality. Data sets are largely trained on values created by humans and data left behind. By left behind data I mean art, texts, images, selfies and basically everything that amounts to data. Content that is generated and left behind by us and used as a basis for new datasets. And then artists like me come and trigger that data set and ask it to show us what has been learned from us. It may look abstract and not always easy to see, but I think this kind of art is a very real and human one.
As an artist how do you like to challenge yourself?
Harald Schaack: I believe that the recurring challenge that I personally have to face and want to face is that I want to reinvent myself very quickly. Sometimes it annoys me, but I rarely want to completely butcher an idea or technique. Some approaches I use longer and implement several projects with them, but often it is so that I get bored quickly and look for new ways of working. This – in it self – is a big challenge for me.
What excites you when you think about the potential of technological advancements that are pushing artistic practices forward?
Harald Schaack: Besides the fact that I am greedy for progress and the possibility and ideas that arise from it, an extremely exciting element is also the interpersonal dialogue that progresses through it. That I can evolve and expand the communication of my ideas may be great, but even better is that these very possibilities are available to everyone else. Any progress means that someone somewhere will finally find a way to realize and communicate their ideas and feelings. And that’s incredibly important, because everyone should have that opportunity.
“Without hope everything would have been let be so far and we would not have this conversation about art, nor would there be art to talk about.”
– Harald Schaack
What does hope mean to you?
Harald Schaack: Nothing more and nothing less than the ultimate optimism and driving factor of virtually everything. Without it we would let everything be- without it everything would have been let be so far and we would not have this conversation about art, nor would there be art to talk about. So we should hope that there will always be people who will do it – otherwise we will see the last work of art someday.
In Conversation with Dilan Günaçtı
FROM BASED ISTANBUL NO41: HOPE ISSUE