SA creatives credited in One Club global human+AI collaborative experience

16 Feb 2023

The One Club for Creativity is celebrating 102 years of the Art Directors Club by inviting the global creative community to explore the future with the launch of ADC101+1 Expo, a multi-platform experience featuring work of 101 designers and creatives from around the world in collaboration with AI tools.

A sample of the creative work. Source: Supplied.

Two of the featured creatives are South African designers Fumani Khumalo and Nomonde Mtetwa.

The collective art initiative, created by Pereira O’Dell and developed by lili Studios, serves as both an interactive gallery of work and a global opportunity to engage in dialogue and debate about the opportunities and issues involved with AI and the creative industry. The project will be supported by a series of virtual and in-person panels featuring top creatives discussing all sides of the topic.

"The design of this project was inspired by the unexpected results of AI collaboration,” said Eduardo Gomes, head of art, Pereira O'Dell. “Our goal was to create 101 distinct pieces of art that could serve as a platform for discussing AI’s emerging role in creativity. Every aspect of this project showcases the beauty of this collaboration from the logo, the naming, the sound design, and even the data-driven architecture of each cube. The combination of human talent and technology creates a dynamic union that expands the potential of creativity.”

How it works

One hundred and one creatives, designers, filmmakers, and creative technologists from around the world, identified by The One Club’s International Board of Directors and Pereira O’Dell, represent the “101” in the project name, while an AI image generator serves as the “+1”.

Participating designers were asked to come up with a prompt, feed it into an AI image generator such as Midjourney, DALL-E 2, or Stable Diffusion, then take the resulting image and evolve it however they choose: by a little, or a lot, by hand or using digital tools.

The final artwork is showcased on ADC101+1 Expo as an immersive interactive digital experience viewable on computers, mobile and VR headsets, complete with background information about each designer’s prompt, their creative process, and personal perspective on using the AI tools. Each designer’s work and background is housed in its own cube – in homage to the prestigious ADC Cube award – that’s entirely generated by AI.

Brief videos feature designers discussing their inspiration, how the collaboration with AI differed from how they normally create, and at what point in this process they felt the artwork become theirs. Excerpts from the videos will be compiled into a short film to be screened at an ADC101+1 Expo panel event during Creative Week in May.

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The virtual exhibition was developed by lili Studios, a leader in online live event experiences based in Los Angeles, Hamburg and Lisbon whose portfolio includes work for Lady Gaga, Cirque du Soleil, Billie Eilish, Apple Music, Amazon, and others.

"We wanted to explore architecture at the intersection of data and human interaction in a world without physics and endless opportunity." says Maik Käehler, co-founder and chief creative officer at lili Studios. "The experience is designed by architects and data. All spaces are the calculated result of the name and the country of each artist. The design is completely driven by data, but it still creates a coherent architectural vision – one that is mathematically rational and unstable at the same time. That was the most interesting to us.”

“ADC has been a leading creative organization for more than a century by remaining at the forefront of creative trends and issues,” said Kevin Swanepoel, CEO, The One Club for Creativity. “With ADC101+1 Expo, we continue in that role to engage the global creative community on the subject of AI, and serve as a forum for the important conversation on its uses and industry impact, both positive and negative.”

ADC101+1 Expo launches with participation of the first group designers, with more added in coming months.

The initial group represents 13 countries and regions: Argentina (Bruno Acanfora, Federico Guiraldes, Javier Lourenco), Australia (Mache [Simon Harsent and Gary Jacques]); China (Fish Ho, Dave Holland, Kevin Lunsong, Saidah), Finland (Sanni Wessman), Hong Kong (Isabel Tong, Justin Wong), India (Tapan Aslot, Pavithra Dikshit, Vishnu M Nair), Japan (Yusuke Koyanagi, Takao Muzumoto, Yoshihiro Yagi), Netherlands (David Bastian Fernández Izarraulde, Ally Behr, Alexandre Gellard, Mischa Loppies), Portugal (Serafim Mendes), South Africa (Fumani Khumalo, Nomonde Mtetwa), South Korea (Euiyoung Gloria Song), Spain (Ana Perez Lopez), and US (Magnus Atom, Jason Naylor, Paul Trillo).

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The first ADC101+1 Expo virtual panel to discuss the opportunities and challenges around AI and the creative industry will take place on 28 February 2023, 12pm to 1pm. Confirmed participants to date include:

PJ Pereira, founder, creative chairman, Pereira O’Dell (moderator)
Magnus Atom, motion graphics designer, animation director, and commercial artist, Saratoga Springs, NY
Ally Behr, design director, Media.Monks Amsterdam
Pavithra Dikshit, design director, Landor & Finch Mumbai
Jason Naylor, artist, designer, creative director, author, Brooklyn

Swanepoel noted this year’s ADC 102nd Annual Awards is the first ad and design industry awards show to establish a separate discipline and dedicated jury – chaired by Pereira – for AI, with categories for application, execution, idea, and process. AI entries are not allowed for other disciplines, such as illustration or photography.

ADC 102nd Annual Awards entries can be submitted now, with fees increasing after each deadline period. Extended deadline is February 17, 2023, and final deadline March 3, 2023. Entries will be judged by a diverse global jury of more than 250 top creatives from 48 countries, with winners announced during Creative Week in May 2023.