A.I. Garden 2017

Curator: Pavlo Makov's "A.I. Garden," created in 2017, is a fascinating pen and ink drawing that seems to be charting something...a topography perhaps. Editor: Yes, it has a deeply cartographic feel, almost like an obsessive rendering of an overgrown landscape. I find the heavy linework strangely compelling—it evokes a sense of both precision and chaos. What’s your immediate reaction? Curator: Oh, chaos absolutely! I feel delightfully lost just gazing at this hill—a wonderfully orchestrated muddle. Is it me or does anyone else perceive the title's ambiguity about who is growing what and for whom? Editor: Right? "A.I. Garden"— the very title throws open questions about control, organic growth versus simulated development, even ecological disaster or rebirth. This intersection is the core of my interest: nature mediated through tech, or maybe superseded? The lines themselves are interesting, are they roots or network cables? Curator: Perhaps that's the beauty; those rigid lines amidst all that organic 'sketchiness' forces one to pause. We might ask ourselves: can artificial intelligence, like a meticulous gardener, shape nature's boundless energy into something more...comprehensible? Or maybe more controllable. Editor: Definitely controllable, or even weaponized. If we accept this "garden" as a representation of controlled spaces – politically, ecologically – how are we implicated? The artist isn't simply showing us something aesthetic; it's asking what kind of "garden" are we cultivating ourselves? Curator: Gosh, that is such a rich interpretation. It takes on almost prophetic significance given the environmental and digital dilemmas of today. I look at the drawing and start questioning who's wielding the pen—or, algorithm in this case? Are we all just seedlings in some tech giant's controlled ecosystem? Editor: It really begs this question, doesn’t it? And maybe, the sketchiness is less imperfection and more a representation of the limits of even the most advanced control systems. There's a lovely push and pull at play... Curator: Yes, the more I linger, the less I see chaos and the more I admire its peculiar harmony. Maybe the artificial and the organic aren't opposites at all, but just different facets of the same blooming conundrum. Thank you for digging a bit deeper!