To be autonomous is to be free from external control.
Autonomous art is art that is autonomous and which acts in order to ensure its autonomy. Often, it is art that owns itself or which cannot be owned.
Some autonomous artworks retain autonomy by constantly running away from ownership.
Caleb Larsen’s A Tool to Deceive and Slaughter (2009) is a physical sculpture that is perpetually attempting to auction itself on eBay. It is autonomous art because its operations are defined by software, running on its own hardware device, that automatically puts the artwork for sale on eBay, and because it resists ownership through a legal contract that ensures it is placed on a recurring internet auction.
Sarah Friend’s Lifeforms (2021) are NFT-based entities, which need regular care in order to thrive. How do you care for these lifeforms? Within 90 days of receiving it, you must give it away, otherwise it dies. They are autonomous art because their operations are dictated by a blockchain-based smart contract that is not controlled by anyone and because they resist ownership by requiring the NFT to be transferred every 90 days.
Some autonomous artworks ensure their own autonomy by instrumentalizing humans to help them reproduce and evolve over time.
Some autonomous artworks take the form of objects that are already autonomous.
Some autonomous artworks acquire autonomy by owning themselves.
Art that merely depicts or explores autonomy is not autonomous art. Art that explores and foregrounds autonomy itself is typically conceptual in nature, but autonomous art is not merely a form of conceptual art. We can imagine autonomous art whose autonomy is not conceptual but merely incidental to its material, aesthetic, or technical execution. And we can imagine a day when all art becomes autonomous for reasons of mere convenience, when autonomy becomes part of the legal and technical infrastructure of art.
Most interactive art is not autonomous art. Interactive art emphasizes the agency of humans rather than that of the artwork itself.
Memes are not autonomous art, but this is contentious. Memes are ideas and behaviors that spread by means of imitation within a culture. Manifestations of memes can be art, and particular memes can be art. But as an idea rather than as an object in the world, memes do not have agency, i.e. the ability to act, which is critical in the definition of autonomous art. That said, smart contracts and NFTs are patterns of information in a blockchain; digital art is a pattern of information on a computer; and even physical objects are patterns of information at the quantum level. If a meme is a self-replicating, self-preserving pattern of information in a mind (i.e. an idea) or in a culture (i.e. a set of behaviors), perhaps one day they may rise to the level of objects with agency.
Most autonomous artists are not autonomous art. No matter how intelligent a robot or a piece of software may be, it does not qualify as autonomous art unless it is striving to ensure its autonomy. While autonomous art might involve human interaction, the interaction is always instrumental to the artwork’s autonomy. In generative art, humans typically instrumentalize autonomous systems in order to manifest new artworks. In autonomous art, autonomous artworks instrumentalize humans in order to further their autonomy. Most automated systems that generate artworks, therefore, do not qualify as autonomous art. Further, many autonomous systems for generating art are not posed as art or as artists.
Tinguely’s Metamatics (1959) is a semi-autonomous kinetic sculpture that also produces new works of art. While clearly posed as art, it is not autonomous because it is not intended to further its own interests but is rather being instrumentalized by third parties to enjoy themselves.
Kitty Simpson and Pindar Van Arman’s Artonomous (2020) is a robot artist that leverages machine learning to draw people’s portraits. While the robot is posed as art (unlike Ferrer et al.’s similar Gaka-chu), it is only autonomous in a limited context, and does not seek to ensure its autonomy in any way. The robot is a mere instrument for people to obtain portraits.
Holly Herndon’s Holly+ (2022) is Holly’s digital twin, leveraging AI vocal models to convert any musical piece submitted by the public into a new musical piece sung back in Herndon’s distinctive voice. The vocal model IP for Holly+ will be owned by a DAO coop which can vote and approve official usage. The funds generated from the usage and licensing of the tools will be shared with the co-op to fund new tool development. While the DAO is to some extent autonomous, it is not itself posed as art. If the DAO were posed as part of Holly+ (or as a separate artwork), it might be regarded as a form of autonomous art, provided that the objective of the DAO is to sustain itself over time to produce more artworks.
Because it is possible.
Because art can be separate from the artist that made it.
Because we want to create new business models for art that do not rely on the scarcity and exclusivity of ownership or copyright.
Because art should be available for everyone to enjoy.
Because autonomous art has the potential to challenge and disrupt existing cultural norms and conventions, pushing the boundaries of what is currently accepted as “art” in society.
Because we reject the commodification of art through property and intellectual property, along with the constraints that property imposes.
Because blockchain enables new opportunities for artworks to emancipate themselves from their creators, and yet most NFT art is as interesting and creative as the frames of a dickspin gif.
Because we want to retain art as the true interface between artists and audiences—not galleries, dealers, critics, collectors, resellers, markets, or other institutions of the art world.
Because we want to make art that is an end in itself and not a means to an end.
Because we want to show that art and culture can thrive in an increasingly automated world.
Autonomous art, once made, must be free from the artist which made it. Just as the artistic quality of an artist’s artwork should be an expression of the artist’s own actions, the artistic quality of an autonomous artwork should be an expression of the artwork’s own actions.