The Intersect of Art and Tech

07/01/2025

Chalk Riot’s vibrant street art, featured in CEOWORLD magazine, is reshaping how we think about pedestrian safety. This D.C.-based, woman-led team has painted over 200 murals across the U.S., transforming dull streets into bright, pedestrian-friendly zones. Backed by data from Bloomberg Philanthropies, their murals aren’t just decoration—they reduce crashes and make people look up, slow down, and engage with their environment.

I love this. I’m all for attention-grabbing sidewalks. If a few bold colors can make streets safer and more welcoming, why are we still painting bland white stripes? It’s smart, human-centered design—art that works as a kind of visual speed bump. These temporary murals are like prototypes for better city planning. Try it out, see how it works, then build something lasting.

>“We’re like the dress rehearsal,” one Chalk Riot artist said. “If the street works well with our paint, the city might build something more permanent later.”

Would your neighborhood react well to a hopscotch crosswalk?

07/01/2025

Gareth Edwards, speaking to *io9*, shared that *Jurassic World Rebirth* isn’t about dinosaurs—it’s about the film industry itself. The dinos are just a stand-in for the bloated, mutated state of mainstream cinema, caught between nostalgia and the pressure to constantly "wow" an audience that’s now streaming short-form chaos on their phones. For those of us thinking about art and tech, this hits close to home.

Here’s what struck me: Edwards is essentially asking how we regain artistic curiosity in a world that’s been over-spectacled to death. I'm no stranger to this dilemma. As a digital strategist and artist, I’ve seen project briefs asking for “the next big thing”—but when I suggest something quiet, something human, it’s often met with silence. That hunger for spectacle is real, and it's exhausting.

> “They started trying different things to make them more entertaining, they mutated them, they created this stuff that people can’t watch or look at.”

Are we just feeding algorithms now, or is there still space to make something that lingers?

Gareth Edwards is no stranger to creating thought-provoking sci-fi, whether he's building his own worlds in Monsters or The Creator or working within established universes like Godzilla and Rogue One . For Edwards, science fiction is never just about spaceships, robots, or dinosaurs. Inst

07/01/2025

Franco-Togolese artist [Wuh.ey](https://www.instagram.com/wuh.ey) is featured over at *African Digital Art* for his emotionally rich AI-generated visuals that blur the line between folklore, memory, and invention. His work doesn’t chase realism or trend-chasing aesthetics—it builds a symbolic, textured language that’s cinematic and rooted in cultural intuition.

What stands out to me is how Wuh.ey sidesteps both the hype and the fear around AI. Instead of framing AI as a threat to creativity, he uses it as a mirror—one that reflects back cultural memory in a new light. The result? Works that feel more like scenes caught mid-dream than polished final frames. These aren’t outputs—they’re interventions.

> “I use artificial intelligence not as a shortcut, but as a tool to reflect, refine, and question.”

What if AI isn’t erasing the artist, but finally letting them work in more than one time and voice at once?

Franco-Togolese visual artist Wuh.ey is part of a growing generation of African creatives using artificial intelligence not as a shortcut, but as a tool for storytelling. His works are cinematic, e…

07/01/2025

At Art Basel’s fifth edition of Digital Dialogues, covered by *Right Click Save*, Sasha Stiles and Iskra Velitchkova joined Alex Estorick to explore how AI is shaping artistic expression—and how artists, in turn, are shaping AI’s cultural relevance. Stiles treats poetry as a kind of original tech, while Velitchkova uses generative systems to surface what can’t be easily said. This wasn’t about hype. It was about thoughtful experimentation.

What stood out to me is how both artists treat the machine not as a tool, but as a collaborator with its own quirks. There’s no fetishizing the tech. Instead, they use it to trace their own inner maps. That mindset—curious, self-aware, and deeply human—is what we need more of right now.

> “Maybe today the topic is not technology, but what makes us human,” Velitchkova said. That line stayed with me. It’s the right question.

Are we using these tools to mimic ourselves—or to actually learn something new?

Digital Dialogues | Language, identity and AI futuresArt Basel in Basel 2025, June 21Sasha Stiles, poet and artist, New YorkIskra Velitchkova, artist, Madrid...

07/01/2025

Meta’s latest “creative” experiment, reported by TechCrunch, is raising some serious eyebrows. While testing a new AI feature on Facebook, the company is prompting users to allow “cloud processing” of their camera roll. Not just for photos you’ve posted—this includes anything on your device. If you agree, you’re giving Meta ongoing access to scan, analyze, and use your personal media for AI-generated suggestions like collages or stylized edits.

I’m not surprised, honestly. But what bugs me is the framing—Meta presents this as a helpful feature, pitching it like it’s doing you a favor. But it’s also a way to feed its AI more personal data, without making the implications obvious. This isn’t about creativity. It’s about control, and we’ve seen this pattern before.

> If you post photos to Facebook—or even just think about it—Meta wants in on your entire photo archive. Not just what you share, but what you don’t. That’s not “creative help.” That’s surveillance with a friendly UI.

If the AI starts “suggesting” edits of my cat dressed as a Renaissance noble, do I laugh—or worry it remembers my face forever?

Meta is prompting users to grant ongoing access to their camera roll photos—including media they haven't specifically uploaded to Facebook—so that AI can edit and curate images and suggest creative ideas.

07/01/2025

Morgan Laurens at *NOT REAL ART* spotlights *Arthouse*, a reality TV series and fundraiser rethinking how we connect with original artwork. The show skips the white walls and wine receptions, focusing instead on everyday collectors visiting local artists in their homes and studios. No gatekeepers, no pretense—just real conversations and the messy, joyful act of picking art that moves you.

I’ve been lucky to help shape this project, and for me, it’s about breaking down the myth that art is only for the elite. We’re using TV—the most ordinary tech in the house—to show how personal collecting can be when it starts with human connection rather than prestige.

> “The reality TV format allows us to create engaging, emotional connections between artists, buyers, and viewers at home. We're not just selling art; we're telling stories about creativity, passion, and the human desire to surround ourselves with beauty and meaning.”

What would happen if buying art felt more like dating than investing?

Support ‘Arthouse’ to connect with local artists, discover unique artwork, and help bring creativity into personal spaces while fostering community art scenes.

06/05/2025

Angelo Sotira, the founder of DeviantArt, is back—this time with a hardware play rather than a platform, as reported by AutoGPT. His new product, *Layer*, is a $22,000 high-end digital display meant specifically for generative and dynamic digital art. It’s built to run GPU-intensive artwork in real time, with no compression, and comes with a subscription model that compensates artists based on display time. It’s sleek, hands-off, and meant to blend into your home without demanding your attention.

I love the concept. We’ve talked about this idea a lot on *The Intersect*. But the price tag puts this way out of reach for most artists and collectors alike. A dedicated, evolving canvas for digital work is overdue—but we need an affordable, consumer-ready version that doesn’t require VC funding to hang on a wall.

> “Digital art should not feel like a gadget. It should feel like a part of the home, something you can live with for years, without maintenance.”

What would your dream digital display look like—and how much would you actually pay for it?

DeviantArt founder is making a comeback to the art world with a digital art display that costs a whopping $22,000.

06/05/2025

Vancouver just approved $5.7 million in grants to 270 arts and culture orgs, according to a June 5 piece from the City of Vancouver’s newsroom. This is the third round of funding this year—bringing their total to over $12 million in 2025 alone. Grants range from small project support to major capital improvements, like $175K for Musqueam’s Longhouse and $125K for the Chinese Canadian Museum.

When I saw this headline in my feed, I knew instantly: this was not a U.S. city. And yeah, that hit a nerve. Because here? We’re still arguing whether arts are even worth funding, while cities like Vancouver are quietly building the future—funding youth-led theater collectives, Indigenous cultural spaces, and q***r Black-led celebrations. That’s what “support” looks like.

> “Arts and culture play a significant role in elevating our city’s identity... These grants provide essential support for local arts organizations, programs and projects.” — Mayor Ken Sim

What would it take for a city in the U.S. to treat art as infrastructure, not decoration?

Today, Vancouver City Council approved $5.7M in grants to 270 cultural organizations to support the delivery of critical programs and services for artists, the cultural community and the public.

06/05/2025

Lauren Bon’s recent interview with *Dezeen* explores her concept of "cyborg infrastructure"—a term she uses to describe hybrid systems where engineered structures and natural ecosystems are treated as one. Bon and her Metabolic Studio aim to tap into the often-neglected Los Angeles River as both medium and metaphor, reimagining public infrastructure as living art.

I’m conflicted. I get the poetic impulse here—cities as organisms, infrastructure as breathing systems—but this framing also feels a bit too resigned. Accepting degraded natural spaces as the starting point can easily become a loophole. It risks turning ecological scarcity into a design aesthetic, rather than a problem to solve.

> “I believe we need to start thinking about infrastructure not as separate from nature but *as* nature,” Bon says in the *Dezeen* interview. “That’s where the idea of ‘cyborg infrastructure’ comes from.”

Are we designing with nature, or designing around the damage we’ve chosen not to fix?

Artist Lauren Bon has embarked on an ambitious project to access water from the Los Angeles River. In this exclusive interview, she explains why infrastructure should be treated like nature.

06/03/2025

Nearly seven years after a fire at Ron Perelman's Hamptons estate, a $410 million lawsuit is unfolding in a New York courtroom. As reported by *Claims Journal*, Perelman alleges insurers like Lloyd’s of London and AIG are dodging full payouts on five paintings — including a Warhol soup can — despite policies that were supposed to cover “any damage, no matter how slight.” The insurers are pushing back, calling it a cash grab.

I think most of us aren’t insuring $100 million Warhols, but this case still hits close to home. It opens a window into how art is treated less like cultural expression and more like an asset class. Insurance policies that value work based on replacement cost — rather than repair — change the conversation from preservation to liquidation. That’s art, reduced to ledger lines.

> This case is a rare peek behind the curtain of high-stakes art collecting, as well as an unusual glimpse into the disputes between wealthy collectors and their insurers, many of which are contested privately to keep the intimate details of their holdings from the marketplace.

What does it say about value when a painting’s worth depends more on paperwork than pigment?

Nearly seven years after a fire ripped through Ron Perelman's Hamptons home, he is asking a New York state judge to force insurers to pay him more than

06/03/2025

A recent article in *Acta Psychologica* (Vol. 257, July 2025) by Mikhail Popandopulo and colleagues argues that artistic culture is fundamental to both the spiritual and cognitive development of students. The authors connect this to growing educational emphasis on creativity and cognition—a point also echoed at Davos by the World Economic Forum.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot in the context of AI and how it’s reshaping the job market. If we agree that machines are quickly picking up technical tasks, what’s left for humans will increasingly depend on creative thinking, emotional intelligence, and context-based problem solving—the very areas where artistic training comes in. If you're twenty and trying to make sense of the future, an arts education might be more relevant now than ever.

>“In contemporary society, where cognitive functions and creative thinking... are increasingly in demand, the significance of artistic culture is growing.”

So why are schools still treating art like an elective, not a core necessity?

06/03/2025

Fast Company’s Mark Wilson explores *Soot*, a new media platform that turns the tired scroll of social feeds into something closer to a living collage. Built by sound artist-turned-AI designer Jake Harper and creative producer Mary Nally, Soot uses AI and data visualization to arrange thousands of images in an organic, spatial interface. Instead of content stacked in a feed, you get a swarm—like a painter’s palette, or an exploded archive.

I’ve spent hours wrestling with folders full of inspiration, only to lose the thread completely. Soot feels like the opposite of that—less hunting, more hovering. It’s designed not to show you one thing, but to surround you with associations. Is it still a feed if it behaves like a memory?

> “A lot of the negative impact of computers is inherent to the geometries of the interface,” Harper tells Wilson. That hit me harder than I expected.

What if our biggest creative block is the shape of the screen itself?

While most of us are looking at one picture or video at a time, Soot pours hundreds into your retinas all at once.