What AI can do is currently fascinating the creative world, triggered by the launch of AI bots such as Midjourney. A few weeks ago, a Colorado designer won The Digital Art Award in fine art contest at Colorado State Fair with his Midjourney-generated digital artwork, for example. As you can imagine, it caused an uproar and a lot of debate about what AI-generated imagery means for the future of art.
TBWA\Melbourne is adding fuel to the fire in a campaign for The Melbourne Writers Festival, that has developed a collection of AI artwork, created by inputting humanity’s most imaginative writing, word for word, into AI. The campaign extends the debate about the possibilities of AI generated art in the creative industries, by looking past the images themselves and highlighting the creativity of the words needed to make them. Without these written prompts, AI art wouldn’t exist.
To create the unique art pieces, passages from classic works of literature from literary icons, Mary Shelley, Herman Melville, H.G. Wells, Bram Stoker and George Orwell were inserted verbatim into Midjourney. Each visual became a modern reminder of the enduring power of the written word.
View the images, listen to the passages:
Casselly Main, marketing & communications manager, Melbourne Writers Festival, stated, “This year’s festival is all about ambition and this campaign is the perfect encapsulation. We’re ecstatic about the response the images had at the festival. Even though most of these books were written over a hundred years ago, their words continue to inspire today.”
TBWA Melbourne added, “Like most of the industry, when we first saw Mid Journey, we experienced a momentary existential crisis. “What does this mean for creativity? Is it now out of human hands?” The short answer is no, far from it. AI like Midjourney is an incredible creative tool. Even in the past weeks, we’ve seen huge leaps in visualisation, composition and lighting. But our partnership with the Melbourne Writers Festival shows the strength of beautiful writing — past, present and future.”
The campaign launched in conjunction with the Melbourne Writers Festival, appearing in OOH and digital. In addition, illustrated ebooks of the classic novels, featuring further AI interpretations, are planned for release in the coming months.
Credits:
Client: Melbourne Writers Festival
Creative Agency: TBWA\Melbourne
Production: TBWA\Melbourne
