Harold Cohen - Pioneer of AI in the creation of Art

 According to Wikipedia, Harold Cohen (1 May 1928 – 27 April 2016) was a British-born artist who was noted as the creator of AARON, a computer program designed to produce art autonomously. His work in the intersection of computer artificial intelligence and art attracted a great deal of attention, leading to exhibitions at many museums, including the Tate Gallery in London, and acquisitions by many others.

Early life

Cohen was born in London, the son of Polish-Russian parents, and was educated there at the Slade School of Fine Art.[4]

Career

Cohen represented Great Britain at the Venice Biennial in 1966.[5] Cohen moved to the United States as a visiting lecturer at the University of California, San Diego in 1968. He was later given the rank of professor and stayed at UC San Diego for nearly three decades, part of the time as chairman of the Visual Arts Department. In addition, he served as director of the Center for Research in Computing and the Arts at UC San Diego from 1992 to 1998.

Cohen taught at UC San Diego from 1968 to 1994.[6] After his retirement from UCSD, he continued to work on AARON and produce new artwork in his studio in Encinitas, California.

In 2014, Cohen received the ACM SIGGRAPH Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement award.

Early in 2016, Cohen started a new project with AARON called Fingerpainting for the 21st Century. In this project, Cohen used a touch screen to digitally colour and finish artworks. In previous AARON projects, images would be outputted in physical form before Cohen made alterations.

Here are some examples of Cohen's work using AARON

Harold Cohen, Gathering, 2010

First Athletes, Athlete Series, 1986

Acrylic on canvas

195 x 276 cm

76 3/4 x 108 5/8 in

Here are some videos of Cohen and AARON in action:

Harold Cohen - The Age of Intelligent Machines - 1987 (Clip)
Duration: 2:15

Gallery @ Calit2 - COLLABORATIONS WITH MY OTHER SELF, Harold Cohen
Duration: 5:35

Harold Cohen from Avivson Films

This interview took place at the artist's home in Encinitas in the Summer of 2005 by Janus Avivson, his assistant Camille Videcoq and cameraman Jeff Springer. 

It was edited in 2021 by David Hughes.
Duration: 15:43

California Cognitive Science Conference 2014: Harold Cohen

Sixth Annual California Cognitive Science Conference 2014

Creativity: The Inspired Mind

May 3, 2014 (2 years before he passed away in 2016)
Duration: 48:06

Harold Cohen in A-EYE exhibition in London

Harold Cohen giving the opening talk for A-EYE exhibition at AISB50 convention at Goldsmiths, University of London, UK.

Duration: 43:38

Date: Monday 31st March, 2014 (2 years before he passed away in 2016)

ACM SIGGRAPH Awards - Harold Cohen
Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement

Duration: 22:23

The First Digital Artist - Harold Cohen and his AARON

TATE GALLERY. COMPUTER PICTURES.