FUTURE REFLECTIONS

12 artists share their views on humanity's relationship with technology

- STORY: SUWITCHA CHAIYONG

When curator Zen Sanehngamjaroen watched Netflix's Thai science fiction series, Tomorrow And I, she felt inspired to create the art exhibition "Future Hype", which is now on view at Maison JE. Tomorrow And I is a series which features four episodes with different futuristic themes cloning, life-like sex robots, AI and Buddhism and biblical flooding and societal division.

"It raises the question that if one day the world becomes like it is in the series, what will people be like? There will be a lot of changes and effects which humans will try to handle. The question is can we cope with them? The exhibition's futuristic theme allows artists to present their perspectives.

"I came up with the title 'Future Hype' because I was thinking about trends, popularity and something new. It is something that is uncertain and keeps changing which makes it impossible to predict what will happen," explained Zen.

"Additionally, this is the first time that Maison JE has organised an exhibition of Thai artists. Thus, we decided to present it as a group for diversity. All 12 artists created works especially for this event."

Zen is a curator who does not deny new technology. She prefers to learn and employ it for her own benefit. However, she believes that the ideas for artwork should come from artists, not AI.

"Some artists use ChatGPT or other generative AIs to develop ideas. I believe that humans can come up with profound thoughts that AI cannot duplicate. There is nothing wrong with using AI as a support tool, but the creators of artwork should be the artists," Zen commented.