Natural Rhythms of Australia: An AI Digital Art & Placemaking Exhibition

The purpose of the digital screen was for digital placemaking, displaying digital art. The brief was to deliver a digital placemaking art experience that is ”a global, best digital experience using cutting-edge technology.” The foundation of the design solution was to reflect key tenant’s purpose. The purpose was to: ”Use technology as a connection to nature that allows us to build a brighter future for all.” The art was to establish an emotional connection incorporating the key tenant’s values of care, courage and commitment. The Tone of Voice was to be fun, playful and positive. Had to be changeable, adaptable.

The design solution for ”Natural Rhythms of Australia” involved creating bespoke, advanced AI technology to seamlessly blend cutting-edge innovation with artistic storytelling. VANDAL developed from the ground up a unique AI toolset and custom-trained AI model to produce a captivating, year-long immersive AI art exhibition. The result is a world-first in generative AI art, unparalleled in length, scale, and technological advancement. This generative artificial intelligence digital placemaking art exhibition reflect’s the key tenants purpose in showcasing Australia’s diverse ecological cycles using advanced technology, on a state-of-the-art, 47 sqm ultra-high-definition LED array for all to experience, enjoy and marvel at.

”Natural Rhythms” has a multifaceted impact. Commercially, it enhances the Darling Quarter North redevelopment, greeting employees, attracting visitors and elevating the precinct’s profile. Environmentally, it raises awareness about Australia’s delicate ecological cycles, promoting sustainability and appreciation for the land upon the building stands. Societally, the exhibition educates the public on technological advances. By using generative AI to create art, we educate audiences on the transformative potential of AI, demonstrating how technology can enhance artistic expression and deepen our understanding of the natural world.

”Natural Rhythms” was developed over a year of research and development, utilising custom-built workflows of generative AI tools. The result is a world-first in smooth, ultra-high resolution motion art. Artificial intelligence algorithms, responsible for generating the art, work from a custom dataset of imagery and can be enhanced using image-specific training or ‘embeddings,’ refining AI’s understanding of objects or scenes. This machine learning process involved VANDAL feeding AI with hundreds of bespoke, curated images to identify patterns and significant features, giving our digital artists control and precision to achieve their desired results. Once our AI model had a deeper understanding of objects through embedding, written prompts were created to instruct the AI algorithm on what imagery to generate. Detailed prompts provided greater control over the result. Fine tuning involved hundreds of parameters influencing the AI’s output, requiring continuous, iterative tweaking to achieve the highest possible production value. As AI can produce unexpected results, ongoing refinement was necessary. The technology and tools we created, allowed VANDAL achieve unprecedented levels of control and quality in the finished product. Per the client’s ESG commitment, the 47 sqm digital LED array is powered by renewable energy.