The First AI Exhibit at a National Gallery Launches in the Faroe Islands

Exhibit Explores the Faroe Islands Through the Eyes of the World's Greatest Artists

NEW YORK, Sept. 27, 2022 /CNW/ -- Today the National Gallery of the Faroe Islands launches an exhibition of 40 images created by the AI program Midjourney, making it the first time ever that a national gallery features a fully produced show created by artificial intelligence. Running September 29 through October 30, the exhibit reveals how the world's greatest artists could have depicted the landscape of this remote archipelago unreachable in their day. The intriguing AI images provide visitors the opportunity to experience how the likes of Van Gogh, Monet and Picasso would have painted the Faroe Islands.

A video on this new exhibit can be found here.

Visitors will also have the opportunity to create their own images using the Midjourney technology. Computer stations will be available at the exhibit providing visitors a chance to experience this innovative new technology.

The group of 18 islands located 400 miles from land in the North Atlantic makes for an ideal location to pose the question, "How would history's most renowned painters have interpreted this unique landscape?" Midjourney technology analyzes billions of paintings and pictures to understand shapes, techniques, colors, moods and objects as well as the personal style of the greatest artists ever known. This transformational exhibit also examines technologies' role in art and showcases how art is shifting from external landscapes of rolling hills and mountaintops to the internal landscapes of the mind and imagination through the use of technology and language.

Karina Lykke Grand, Director of the National Gallery of the Faroe Islands, stated, "When I first heard of AI and Midjourney and how it is possible to create new pictures just like individual artists might have done, it immediately intrigued me. It was fascinating to see how by giving prompts, the system can get an idea of how an artist such as Van Gogh or Picasso might have painted the Faroe Islands."

In addition to the AI exhibition, the museum features a collection of art by the country's most renowned Faroese artists. From an art history perspective, Faroese visual art did not develop before the early part of the twentieth century. Despite the small size of the country, around 54,000 inhabitants, and the fact that Faroese art history is comparatively young, the quality of Faroese art is remarkably high.

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. The interest in the Faroese landscape as a subject matter, which traditionally was the motif, has been displaced with that of the human mind, raising existential or philosophical questions. Please see works of the many gifted Faroese artists at the National Gallery of the Faroe Islands' homepage, www.art.fo.

For further info on the art museum and opening hours, please see www.art.fo.

The Faroe Islands might be small, but nature works on a grand scale on the 18 islands in the North Atlantic. With breathtaking views from every angle, visitors are invited to experience the raw and untouched beauty of the outdoors. Home to mountains of myth, hobbit-like turf-roofed houses and grazing shaggy sheep, these islands make up the perfect playground for the senses.

The Faroese people are shaped by the harsh elements that have surrounded them for generations; a wonderful blend of isolation, robustness and reserve, open arms, genuineness and warmth. Few communities as small can boast of an equally vibrant art and music scene, while Faroese gastronomy has never been more highly thought of. The decidedly slow pace of life on the islands lends itself to hospitable kinfolk and laid-back living.

To learn more about the Faroe Islands, visit www.visitfaroeislands.com.

SOURCE Visit Faroe Islands

Súsanna E. Sørensen, Visit Faroe Islands, [email protected], [phone]; Maria Andriano, MGA Media Group, [email protected], [phone]