A New Realism
Increasingly, painters are using digital tools and computer-generated images to capture the tone and texture of reality.
Outland is a new platform dedicated to fostering critical conversations around emerging digital technologies and their connections to contemporary art.
Commissioned Artists
Latest Commission
Cosmic Bloom
Leo Villareal
Magazine
Troubling the Waters
Jonathan Chomko’s pixel-based water simulator critiques the fetishes of randomization and realism in generative art.
The Generative Art Market Today
Duane King of Highlight and Paul Schmidt of fxhash reflect on the evolving field of code-based art the platforms supporting it.
0xCollection
Founded by Czech entrepreneur Karel Komárek, the Basel-based collection has an explicit focus on digital and new media art.
Handwriting in the Keyboarding Age
Generations of artists have experimented with automated handwriting, illustrating the ongoing entanglement of humans and machines.
Likeness and Liking
The significance of contemporary generative art hinges on how it brings disparate kinds of similarity and difference into unreconciled—and productive—tension.
Historical scale
The restoration of Keith Haring’s 1987 computer drawings proposes a new standard for using the blockchain to store and authenticate historical digital art.
Weird Blob
A collection of NFTs inhabited by a mysterious, shapeshifting sea creature raises existential questions about the simulation of autonomous life forms.
Andrew Badr
A longtime admirer (and practioner) of software art has become an avid collector of generative work.
Criticism and Community
A special issue on generative art features essays by participants in a writing workshop organized with Art Blocks.
Running out the clock
Deafbeef’s latest project calls back to Eadweard Muybridge’s nineteenth-century motion studies to meditate on the relationship between media and time on the blockchain.
Avatar as Subject, Artist as Avatar
Two exhibitions that engage with the trendy notion of “worldbuilding” offer different visions of what the role of audiences in artist-conceived worlds can be.
Postcards from the Gameworld
Gabriel Massan’s gorgeous adventure game incorporates NFTs as player souvenirs, rather than using the blockchain to elaborate on the game’s collaborative spirit.
The Outland Review, vol. 2
Andreas Gysin and Sidi Vanetti's numerical art, the collaborative generative art project "N=12," Takakura Kazuki's AI installation, and Mark Fingerhut's malware ride reviewed in brief
Mark Amerika & ACI
Does artificial intelligence understand the timeline of its own existence? This simulated exchange, generated almost entirely by a version of GPT-4, probes that question.
How Does It Make You Feel?
Looking at works by Ian Cheng, Refik Anadol, and Jon Rafman involves a sensory awareness of the AI engaged behind the scenes.
Connie Bakshi
A studio visit with the self-described "digital shaman," who uses AI to explore ancient culture and the human psyche
Sofia Crespo & Fabiola Larios
The artists discuss their work made with generative AI—and what the technology can teach us about the human mind.
Maya Man
In this virtual studio visit, the artist shares her ideas about social media's impact on girls, and discusses her use of creative coding.
Flower Power
Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg’s algorithmically designed gardens cater to the needs of insects and plants, rather than the aesthetic preferences of humans.
Guest Editor
Refraction DAO
The tools of web3 tools offer some exciting possibilities for art organizations. But it’s still crucial to build human networks around them.
Six Perspectives on Decentralized Curation
How is the web3 principle of decentralization changing the way art is funded, produced, collected, and displayed?
Building a Decentralized Art World
Outland’s new guest editor Refraction DAO is creating alternative models for organizing and funding an international network of exhibitions and events.
Greg Liburd & Alex Zhang
The community structures of Friends with Benefits and Refraction DAO are informed by web3 tools, but not determined by them.