IMAGINE THE FAROE ISLANDS

The Faroe Islands are a cluster of 18 islands located in the middle of the vast North Atlantic Ocean. Due to the islands’ extremely remote location, most of the greatest artists throughout the ages, understandably never enjoyed the opportunity to visit the Faroes for themselves.  That means, of course, that we will never know how the Faroe Islands' breathtaking beauty and dramatic landscapes could have inspired artists such as Van Gogh and Monet.

However, ARTificial intelligence can. In the fall of 2022, an exhibit held at the National Art Gallery explored the Faroe Islands through the eyes of the world’s greatest artists.

In the Faroe Islands, the National Gallery held a world-first exhibition: the first time ever that a National Gallery has featured on its walls images created solely by artificial intelligence. 

The technology at the heart of the exhibition, in the form of Midjourney’s brand-new AI platform, was asked a simple question:

What if the greatest artists ever living had painted the Faroe Islands…?”

See what you created using AI

 

PEOPLE JOINED THE AI-VERSE & SENT IN THEIR IDEAS

THE WORLD'S FIRST PICTURE EXHIBIT AT A NATIONAL GALLERY

FEATURING ONLY AI-GENERATED IMAGES

When I first heard of AI and MidJourney, and how it was possible to create new pictures just as individual artists might themselves have done, I was immediately intrigued - Says Karina Lykke Grand, Director of the National Gallery of the Faroe Islands 

In the Faroe Islands, the National Gallery decided to have an exhibition with art created by the AI system Mid-Journey. The exhibition contained a carefully-curated collection, inspired by some of the world’s greatest artists.

The exhibition raises interesting questions about what art is, what computers may do in the future, and how the greats of the art world over the centuries might have represented the Faroe Islands had they been able to travel to see the archipelago for themselves.

As an extra enjoyment, the audience also got the unique opportunity to create their own images using artificial intelligence.

FAROESE ART

In addition to the exciting Artificial Intelligence pictures, the art museum has a beautiful collection of art by the greatest Faroese artists. In an art-historical sense, Faroese visual art did not develop much before the early part of the 20th century. Despite the size of the country – just 54,000 inhabitants - and the fact that Faroese art history is comparatively young, the quality of Faroese art is remarkably high. 

A SHIFT IN SHAPES

Faroese visual art has hardly ever been as widely expressed as it is today. In the work of the younger generation of Faroese artists, the traditional interest in the Faroese landscape as a subject matter seems to have declined, while interest in the human mind, existential or philosophical questions, or internal-facing landscapes, seems to have increased. Faroese visual art is growing in diversity with provocative works by an emerging generation of artists such as Rannvá Kunoy, Jón Sonni Jensen, Hansina Iversen and Edward Fuglø. Please see the works of the many gifted Faroese artists on the National Gallery of the Faroe Islands’ homepage.