To RL or AI? That is the Question
AI is slowly but surely making its way through the creative world. And why not? It can write a book for you in minutes. Need a term paper or a ridiculous amount of research done? Chatbox has you covered. Need a screenplay on the fly? Pfff… piece of cake for AI.
How is this seemingly hostile takeover, presumably put in place to make our lives “easier”, affecting true human artists that don’t have fancy computer-powered brains (yet), but rather make their living by creating breathtaking art the old-fashioned way? Using their pure talent, personal imaginations, and human emotion.
With Inferno Metal Festival focusing more on art each year, we thought we’d take it to some of the featured artists this year, who also happen to be some of the most renowned album cover artists of some of your favorite metal albums, to hear how AI is affecting their work, their lives, and their careers and discuss what each of them are currently doing to think outside of the traditional box of what worked before to stay ahead of the growing competition of an invisible AI competitor.
This is a great panel to check out for everyone in the industry as it’s not long before AI is ever present in all aspects of the music industry. Songwriting, producing, mastering, programming, booking, etc.
Friday 29. March 12:00 - Room: Frognerparken
Mod: Erin Lynch (FlyingFox, SE)
Erin Lynch has been in the music industry in one way or another since 1993. Whether it was music director at her college radio station, working for labels, running her own label, merchandiser, tour manager, production manager, artist liaison, backstage manager, all-around life coordinator, and professional kitten herder, she has probably been there, done that or at the very least, likely helped coordinate and sold you the t-shirt.
She owns and operates FlyingFox AB, a Band/Artist Management, Production, Tour and Event Management and Consulting Company based in Stockholm, Sweden, managing bands such as Sólstafir, Oranssi Pazuzu and Hamferð as well as known artists Costin Chioreanu and Nick Morte
In July 2020, during the biggest crisis to ever affect our industry, she started the non-profit company C.R.E.W Coalition (Career Restricted Event Workers) that serves as a community for anyone in the live events industry to get support and assistance in times of crisis.
Winner WILM (Women in Live Music) 2018 Tour Manager of the Year and 2020 Production Manager of the Year.
Kim Diaz Holm (NO)
Kim Diaz Holm / Den Unge Herr Holm (1980) is an artist and storyteller from Bergen, Norway. He has drawn thousands of concert sketches while headbanging at festivals like Inferno, Roadburn, Heavy Montreal, and Tons Of Rock, and made cover art for bands like Abbath, Solstafir, and Vreid. To his over million followers on TikTok and Youtube he draws monsters and tells stories of mythology, mental health, and anarchy.
Nick Morte (NO)
Nick Morte is a multidisciplinary artist based in Oslo, Norway. In his works, he explores the “dark side of beautiful”, adjoining figurative compositions and abstract expressions, with a good load of symbolism left for the viewer to interpret.
As a Russian dissident, Nick was forced to embrace the life of a traveling artist in the 2010s, gaining international recognition as an award-winning tattoo personality before switching to painting and design work by the end of the decade.
He was a part of the “Take it Personally” exposition in the Historical Museum of Oslo in 2015-2016 and had two solo exhibitions in Norway besides a number of group shows and live painting performances worldwide.
David Thiérrée (FR)
David Thiérrée is a French artist born in 1970. Self-taught, he has worked since 1989 for extreme Metal bands worldwide (cover art, logos, T-shirts, etc…). He paused his activities in this domain in the early 2000’s and started to work in the Fantasy environment, and showed his works at conventions and exhibitions worldwide.
His artworks have been used for several books dealing with Fantasy worlds and creatures, and he got his first art book published in 2011.
He was honored in 2008 with a “Froud Award” for best artist of the month and best artist of the year.
He went back to the Extreme Metal business around 2009.
His second artbook, written by Dayal Patterson, named “Owls, Trolls & Dead King’s Skulls”, have been made in 2017, available through "Cult Never Dies" website.
He still works actively for the Metal music industry, and lives in Brittany.
Costin Chioreanu (RO)
Costin Chioreanu is a Romanian complete visual artist (worldwide renowned graphic designer, painter, illustrator, and video artist) and a multi-instrumentalist musician/composer.
His passion for drawing and his interest in heavy metal music were juxtaposed in the mid 90’s, when he realized that the artworks found in his own collection of bootleg cassettes released in the post-communist era, had to be improved. Since then Costin remained a constant musician, releasing albums, singles, and soundtracks, a thing which always offered him the maximum depth for understanding in full what a musician or a band needs in order to illustrate a musical work.
Specializing in Graphic Design, with a bachelor’s and a master’s degree at the National University of Arts, in Bucharest, he started his graphic studio in 2003, under the name of TWILIGHT 13 MEDIA. Over the years Costin worked with hundreds of bands, musicians, and labels from all over the world. Today we find him around the highest circles formed by musicians like Jethro Tull, Ghost, Soulfly, Emperor, Carcass, Wardruna, Hypocrisy, Ulver, Mayhem, and Darkthrone just to name a few.
He expanded the complexity of artistic collaborations, by covering all kinds of visual expression, reaching even the shores of show productions and stage design, or amplifying the power of live performances through original and powerful screenings, animation movies, stage designs, live painting shows on the same stage with the bands, even becoming a part of the performance itself as an actor while the musicians were playing.
Costin Chioreanu is today a worldwide icon in visual art connected with music, with a unique solid yet versatile graphic style, and he also invented a new style of video animation. Original yet consistent, highly inventive and intuitive, deeply philosophical, and with a sharp mind and a fearless attitude of breaking the rules, Costin is one of the strongest candidates for a battle with AI.