'AI CHAIN TAGS'
2023/24
Hybrid collection merging custom AI imagery with Bitcoin inscriptions and traditional hand-etched physical artworks.
Each piece exists in two forms: a digital artifact permanently inscribed on the Bitcoin blockchain via Ordinals, and a physical counterpart carved by hand into stone or plaster.
▼ KEY THEMES:
-
Bitcoin & Permanence:
Bitcoin introduces a new kind of immutability for digital art, contrasting the fleeting nature of digital media. It reimagines ephemeral graffiti and street tags as lasting marks secured on the blockchain.
-
Identity in AI:
A custom AI model trained on GBA’s entire body of work learned to replicate his style and signature, becoming a metaphor for authorship, identity, and human expression in the age of AI, and how humans are increasingly being augmented by algorithms.
and so a lot of what I'm doing there is about identity abstraction and how our identities are constantly fragmented abstracted and commodified through technology
-
Materialization of Digital Art:
The act of manually inscribing AI-generated works into lasting physical materials reclaims a sense of tactile permanence and value in today’s fast-moving digital world. It also speaks to a deeply human need to leave a mark, much like graffiti’s silent declaration: “I am here, I create, and I exist."
▼ CREATION PROCESS:
AI Chain Tags began with a custom AI model trained on a lifetime of Gordon Berger’s artwork, manually scanned over a year to create the exclusive dataset for the ‘INFINITY’ series.
The AI learned to replicate his style, brushstrokes, and signature, prompting deeper questions about authorship, identity, and expression through machine learning.
GBA identified and cropped unique “AI signatures” within the generated images and used them to create new compositions.
This recursive process of self-reflection often embedded additional layers of signatures, amplified by AI.
Each final piece was permanently inscribed on Bitcoin and paired with a hand-carved physical version, uniting digital permanence with material presence.
AI Chain Tags redefines the boundaries of art in the era of decentralized networks and artificial intelligence.
Exhibited:
• 'Art of Punk', The Fracisco Carolinum Museum, Linz, Austria (2024)
• 'Inscriptions', NFC, Pavilhão Carlos Lopes, Lisbon (2024)
• 'Networked Art' The 'Fondazione Made in Cloister', Naples, Italy (2024)
