David Stout brings generative AI art debate to Austin Peay

Artist David Stout used an Oct. 28 public lecture at Austin Peay State University to discuss how generative artificial intelligence has entered his multidisciplinary practice, from visual work to sound-based installations. About 50 people attended the free event, titled “At Home in the Uncanny Valley: The Play and Promise of a Latent Space,” at the Sara & Mike Gotcher Theatre.

Stout described career projects spanning filmmaking, performance art and digital installations, including recent works that use generative AI to produce visual and auditory experiences. He said large language models and generative AI were relatively recent additions to a creative process whose digital tools have changed throughout his career.

One example was “In Their Arms We Hold the Sky,” a public artwork at Olan Sanctuary in Dallas that explores the tree of life. Stout made the installation by selecting more than 40 drawings from a pool of more than 1,000 images produced with generative-AI tools, then animating and combining them.

The All State reported that Stout also discussed “Francis Bacon and Eggs,” “The Emptiness of Victory” and “Pink Release,” as well as influences ranging from other artists to current events, including the war in Gaza. Students were able to ask about the effect of generative AI on creative practice and technology’s role in contemporary art, placing ethical questions about AI alongside the presentation of the work itself.

Jaroslava Prihodova, director of The New Gallery, said the discussion gave students an opportunity to distinguish belief from knowledge and to question their assumptions. “We have a tendency to lean into beliefs instead of philosophical inquiry or examination,” she said, calling for discourse grounded in inquiry, research and personal experience.

The lecture was hosted by the university’s College of Arts and Letters, through its Department of Art + Design, with support from the Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts. Before the event, the university said Stout’s presentation would examine links among sound, image, collaborative methods and the human potential enabled by emergent technologies.

Stout is a composer, director, filmmaker, professor and visual artist who founded the Live Cinema Performance Company and co-founded the interactive-media ensemble NoiseFold. His work includes live cinema, interactive video, electro-acoustic music and immersive projection performances; his recent projects have also examined generative systems, artificial-life networks and simulation environments.

He directs the Hybrid Arts Laboratory and coordinates the Initiative for Advance Research in Technology and the Arts at the University of North Texas, where he teaches Intermedia Performance and holds a joint professorship in music composition and studio art. After the lecture, students had the opportunity to speak directly with him about his career, artistic experience and use of emerging technologies.