Publisher's Synopsis
"What If AI Composed for Mr. S?" is a catalogue for an exhibition by the Japanese art collective AIAARG (Artificial Intelligence Art and Aesthetics Research Group) at The Container, Tokyo. It is the 20th publication in a series published by the gallery to archive and promote artists in Japan and abroad. The catalogue is fully bilingual (Japanese / English) and showcases an introduction by the gallery director, Shai Ohayon, among critical writings by the heads of the art collective Mika Kusakari and the conceptual artist Hideki Nakazawa. Additional texts are contributed by Ryota Akasaka and the classical music composer Hirokazu Hiraishi. The publication explores the philosophical and critical impacts artificial Intelligence may have in the present and in the future on aesthetics and the production of art-making. The catalogue looks at the case of the fall from grace of the Japanese classical composer Mamoru Samuragochi after the revelation in 2014 that he has deployed a "ghostwriter", Takashi Niigaki, to compose his music for him. The writings in the publication look at art and music theory to determine if the scandal that shook Japan and the world would have made the same impact if the music were to be composed by AI technology instead of a living person, and the effects of AI on future art production. The catalogue chronicles an exhibition by the same title "What If AI Composed for Mr. S?" / "S氏がもしAI作曲家に代作させていたとしたら" as exhibited in Tokyo's alternative exhibition space The Container 22 July-7 October, 2019. The Container is a contemporary exhibition space in Nakameguro, Tokyo. The space opened in March 2011 to create a site that encourages people to engage with art installations and works, where the emphasis is on curation and the accessibility of contemporary art and ideas to the general public. As the name suggests, the physical space is no more than a constructed shipping container (485x180x177cm), made to measurements of old Japanese shipping containers, in one of Tokyo's most beloved and trendy neighbourhoods, Nakameguro. The Container invites Japanese and international artists to make site-specific installations four times a year. Each installation remains on view to the public for two-and-a- half months. Since 2013, The Container also started to publish full-colour, bilingual (Jap/Eng) exhibition catalogues, available online and at the gallery. The exhibition space receives extensive international coverage, including ArtAsiaPacific, Artforum, Hyperallergic, Glass Magazine, Art & Antiques Magazine, Ocula, Port Magazine, Dazed & Confused, Blouin Artinfo, Art-iT, Bijutsu-Techo/BT, CNN, NHK, Tokyo Art Beat, The Japan Times, The Sunday Times, travel guides and in-flight magazines, to mention only a few. www.the-container.com
