Afraid of digital art?

The impact of artificial intelligence on today's culture in general and on traditional fine arts in particular is obvious: should we be afraid?

If we were afraid, we would have as fellow travelers distinguished philosophers such as Plato, who expressed his fear of the use of written texts as opposed to verbal communication. But we continue to talk and write. And now we use the computer, we increase the possibilities of error and deception, but also of survival and opening new cultural windows.

Digital art is one such window that opens, not only to visual, digital and graphic design, but to all old and new arts, including architecture, music, cinema or literature. As with abstract art, digital art needs a knowledge of what it is and what it means. I have commented several times in my opinion articles that saying that abstract art does not represent anything is an understatement that continues to defend itself as a flag of modernity, giving rise to exhibitions without any critical thought. Because, how to criticize an art that does not represent anything?

As in the step between speaking and writing, the step between traditional and digital art will require education. No one is born with culture under their arm. I cannot summarize here the enormous mental and cultural change brought about by digital art, I only want to refer to the case of the Gabriel García Márquez public library in Barcelona, the work of the SUMA team in Madrid, which affirms the use of artificial intelligence in a preparatory research of the project. It is a topic on which I have been publishing texts (artificial intelligence and architectural design, 2022) and I have invited them to participate in international conferences ( www.arquitectonics.com ).

It is thus clear that the use of artificial intelligence in architecture and urban planning with smart cities is just beginning and, as happened with abstract art in its beginnings, we know very little about it .