i-gave-life

Image

I gave life

An ode to life
@NastyCrowd
  • Edition: 2022
  • Category: art experience
  • Director: @NastyCrowd
  • Producer: NastyCrowd
  • Writer: NastyCrowd
  • Key cast: NastyCrowd
  • Country: France
  • Country of filming: France
  • Language: English/French
  • Description
  • Additional information

I was commissioned by Demetera to create a piece for the launch of their metaverse. Demeter is the goddess of fertility and procreation. It appeared logical to create an immersive experience as an ode to life, in all its possible representations. Particularly, I focused on the persona of Venus, used across the years, celebrating life. The experience itselfs takes place in the belly of a pregnant woman. The spectator literally enters inside the wound, going back in time in a sense, but also celebrating the newborn to come. On the walls, you will see 3D representations of Venus, projected onto the walls of the room. The creations of those Venuses followed a strict process. We used machine learning to generate images of Venus - thousands of them. The reason behind, is that I was interested in generating a combination of Venuses across time. These AI generative tools take countless images to create a new one. Therefore, it acts as a "meta generator", to find the perfect "meta Venus". From those images, we handpicked a few ones that looked the most interesting - for the shapes. From those handpicked images, we created by hand 3D models into Blender and then used them directly into the composition. I have always been very interested in using those tools, understanding their limitations. I believe they can be great tools, if used in a creative manner, or inspiration. In the middle of the room, you will find a 3D model of a vagina - the symbol of life. There is a clear hint of a "L'origine du Monde" by Courbet, which was considered shocking at the time. You can embark on a journey to the main piece of the room: a 3D model of a woman giving birth. Indeed, although the act of giving birth is the beginning of all life, those images have always been discarded, hidden. Personally, I am not so sure why: the intensity of the body transformation when giving birth? The intimacy of the woman and her child? the misogynistic society we are currently living in, censoring it? I did not create the fully realistic model and textures on purpose - first, because of the technical limitations of Unity and WebGl, photorealism will never be fully achieved. Second and more importantly, is I believe that the poetry of giving birth is more important than the act itself. This piece is an ode to life, an appeal for debate about the origin of life, and how those images are being hidden from us. There will be some debate rooms and more coming along. Follow me and enjoy the show!

    The Crowd (I or We) is a conceptual artist. We use different mediums: photography, video clips and short films, installations, video games, AI generated art, and ceramics. Our work is simply about life: how we only perceive a tiny part of it, how we experience it, create memories and how we fade and disappear eventually (or do we?). We worship the ease and potential immortality given by the digital – the feelings, pain and the sense of true living from the real world. The Crowd is by essence anonymous, although there are some clues: our art is very personal. We include our memories, in a way that can affect anyone. All of our works are therefore deeply rooted in life – and not abstract theories. We are scientists using the latest technology in millennia’s fields. We won’t develop complex art theories. Our work is simple and we are pragmatists. We are crypto addicts as we believe this technology can bring a fairer and more open world. We are decentralised – working and thinking while roaming through the world. The Crowd is the sum of all its members, with their own dilemmas and contradictions. The Crowd is not perfect – mathematics is. We are the Crowd. And we are here to last – forever.