Within the framework of the Scientist-in-Residence programme, initiated by GLUON, renown Belgian painter Luc Tuymans invited Luc Steels — a pioneer of artificial intelligence research and founder of the AI Lab of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel — for a residency at his studio in Antwerp, Belgium. The Old Masters have always used technological (optical) devices to achieve their works. Vermeer used the camera obscura, Canaletto used lenses and Ingres a camera lucida. In collaboration with researcher Luc Steels, Luc Tuymans wishes to explore the possibilities of an artificial intelligent system as a new device for a 21st century painter. The artist and researcher aim to develop a personal neural network — an artificial intelligent system — fed by a vast set of data from the artist’s works and exhibitions. This system, named Flow, will analyse the curation process of the artist. From the observation of patterns, which Tuymans himself might be unaware of, it will make suggestions for future paintings and exhibitions. As a first step in this project, Luc Steels is collecting data and experimenting with various algorithms, and techniques such as computer vision and natural language processing. The exhibition La Pelle, presenting more than 80 of Tuymans’ works in the Palazzo Grassi at the Venice Biennale edition 2019 and the exhibition The Return at De Pont in Tilburg served as a first object of study for Flow.
