The playful side of technology
- Fine Art
- Design
Is Artificial Intelligence (AI) going to take us over? That question is on many people's minds. And it is much talked about in the public debate nowadays. Bart Hassink (28), student in the Design Art Technology bachelor’s course, explores the (un)human side of AI in his graduation work.
As a child, Bart Hassink was already fascinated by video games and the internet. "I loved seeing how virtual worlds were created in games; I sometimes became completely absorbed into those worlds. I also made new connections with people by playing online games together."
Enrolment
Bart’s fascination with all the possibilities of the digital world did not fade as he got older. On the contrary. "For example, I really wanted to learn programming. And I was very curious about 3D modelling", he says. "It was through a friend that I first heard about the Design Art Technology bachelor’s course in Arnhem. I was immediately enthusiastic, because in this course you learn to work with media that I find so interesting. And I was drawn to the approach at ArtEZ."
Bart enrolled. "For the admission assignment, I had to design a personal website and elaborate it as far as possible. I really enjoyed that. This felt like a conformation that I indeed wanted to pursue this program."
Broad base
The first two years of the course were quite demanding. "As a student, you learn about various programming languages, video editing, Photoshop, art history and visual arts, among other things"
Bart worked hard to master all the subjects. "Back then, it was sometimes difficult to get enough sleep, because I was quite perfectionistic and insecure at the beginning of the course and really wanted to do my assignments very well.”
Passionate lecturers
Bart says that he felt very encouraged by his lecturers and fellow students. "The lecturers helped me when I got stuck while working on projects. For example, with interesting questions, advice and references. They are super passionate about their profession and eager to share their knowledge and skills with the students. I am enormously grateful to them for that."
Bart also learned a lot from the feedback he received from his (international) fellow students. "We spend a lot of time discussing each other's workpieces. That is incredibly valuable. It helped me to reflect on my own work."
Project month
Every year of the course includes a study trip. This trip is linked to a theme. After the trip, students from different years/levels work together on a project, centred around this theme. They make, for example, a performance, object, website or installation. “That is always fantastic", Bart says.
He talks about a project month with the theme ‘the industry behind the internet’, when the students visited several mines. “Our project was inspired by the drawings in the caves in Maastricht. It was a website where users could leave audio recordings in an abstract, digital cave.”
During another project month, Bart stayed with fellow students in the studio of artist Florentijn Hofman at Hoge Veluwe. “There we put together an audio-visual light show, with coloured DMX lights and 3D glasses”, he says enthusiastically.
Greater confidence
In the course, you not only acquire technical skills, but you are also challenged to develop your own vision. Bart: "Increasingly the assignments become more open-ended. This helps you to gain, step by step, more confidence in your own ideas and the creative process.”
Bart tells that he himself is usually inspired by what he finds strange, funny or uncomfortable. For example, he once created a website that generates dick pics, by using AI. "Some a bit more realistic than others", he laughs.
AI and emotions
During his studies, Bart's interest in AI grew. His graduation essay is about the influence of algorithms on social media. "I think it's important that people become even more aware that AI determines what they get to see. And who they connect with", he says.
Bart is also making his final workpiece on AI. "In simple terms, I make a digital copy of my arms and hands, controlling a computer", he says. "They look real, but just not quite. That is where the tension lies."
With this piece, Bart wants to encourage people to think about AI and emotions. "AI doesn't have a body yet. But what if it did? We people all tend to attribute emotions to objects that look human and abstract things that seem to exhibit some kind of ‘behaviour’. Above all, I want to show that the emotions we see in AI come from ourselves.”
Valuable learning experiences
Bart also completed an internship at Studio Toer in Eindhoven. There he programmed, among other things, the motors that set light installations in motion during a performance. “I noticed then that technology can create extraordinary experiences and evoke emotions in an audience. It’s nice to be able to achieve that through technology.”
Bart is almost finished with his studies. How does he look back? “I had a great time and had many valuable learning experiences. And I would definitely recommend the program to people who want critically and playfully explore the boundary between technology and art!”
