Dana-Fiona Armour wins Sigg Prize for art that integrates AI

AI-powered art award celebrates innovative exploration of future ecology: The inaugural Sigg Art Prize, focused on integrating artificial intelligence in art, has been awarded to German artist-researcher Dana-Fiona Armour for her thought-provoking work “Alvinella Ophia.”

Prize details and winner’s work: The Sigg Art Foundation, founded by Swiss tech entrepreneur Pierre Sigg, presented the €10,000 award at a ceremony in London.

• Armour’s winning piece, “Alvinella Ophis,” is a 3D-animated video installation that blends biotechnology, AI, and contemporary art.
• The work depicts a hybrid serpent creature, combining a snake and a deep-sea Pompeii worm, exploring a dystopian “future desert” devastated by ecological disaster.
• Heat sensors detect the creature’s movements, triggering AI-generated visual responses within a quadrophonic soundscape.

Foundation’s vision and competition theme: The Sigg Art Foundation views AI as a transformative force in the art world, comparable to the impact of photography during the industrial revolution.

• The foundation believes AI is reshaping reality representation, memory construction, and language innovation on a global scale.
• Entrants to the prize were asked to submit work around the theme of “Future Desert.”

Artist background and previous work: Dana-Fiona Armour’s interdisciplinary approach often involves collaboration with scientists to explore species symbiosis.

• Armour is a member of the Collectif Poush in Paris and has previously worked in residency at a genome-engineering company.
• Her earlier work, Project MC1R, combined visual art and biotechnology and was exhibited at the Collection Lambert in Avignon in 2022.
• She has held solo exhibitions with the gallery Andréhn-Schiptjenko in Paris and Stockholm.

Artist’s statement and goals: Armour emphasized the importance of interdisciplinary approaches in addressing ecological issues through art.

• The artist aims to create dialogue about the connection between humanity and the natural world.
• Armour hopes to promote a deeper understanding of shared ecological challenges through her work.

Unique jury composition: The Sigg Art Prize jury included a diverse group of experts and an AI component.

• An AI created by French Canadian artist Grégory Chatonsky, trained on an art-centered language model, was part of the jury.
• The AI assessed each entry qualitatively and quantitatively, expressing its output in Chatonsky’s voice.
• Other jury members included curators, philosophers, academics, and digital art collectors.

Broader implications for AI in art: The Sigg Art Prize highlights the growing importance of AI as a tool and medium in contemporary art.

• The integration of AI in the creative process and as part of the judging panel demonstrates its increasing influence in the art world.
• This award may encourage more artists to explore the intersection of technology, ecology, and traditional artistic practices.
• The prize could potentially spark discussions about the role of AI in shaping future artistic expressions and evaluations.