Herndon and Dryhurst Reimagine Art with AI

Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst, described as high culture's most influential AI artists, created 3-D-printed sand sculptures for the Venice Biennale that proved too heavy for the 18th-century palazzo. The pair argue AI could lead to a renaissance rather than doom for the arts.

Industry context: For AI and creative-technology practitioners, the Atlantic profile of Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst illustrates how generative systems are being embedded into physical art practice, forcing attention to provenance, material constraints, and curation. According to The Atlantic, the pair prepared an installation for the Venice Biennale that used 3-D-printed sand sculptures; they realized the proposed sculptures would be too heavy for the 18th-century palazzo. The Atlantic reports the artists work across music, images, and software and describes them as high culture's most influential exponents of artificial intelligence. The Atlantic quotes Herndon saying, "is way harder to do, because everything's on boats." The Atlantic also reports they argue AI could lead to a renaissance rather than doom for the arts.