Do Generative Models Dream of Androids? AI-Art meets Fiber Arts

A machine knitting performance at Pebblebed, San Francisco

We were invited to present our work at Pebblebed’s AI Dreamland night on May 31 2023. We exhibited a quilt that had been designed using Stable Diffusion, and debuted a performance echoing the night’s theme. Do Generative Models Dream of Androids is our latest piece the (self-)representations of generative AI models.

We prompted Stable Diffusion for images of dreams dreamt by generative models. We took a slice of one of our favourite image into a knitted tapestry with the ultimate goal to create an immersive installation. Some see a face. We see a city in the clouds and a skyline beaming in the night sky. What do you see?

Stable diffusion generated, the dream of a generative AI model.

Over three hours we manually knitted one row at a time, bringing the AI’s dream into the world, and resulting in a two meters long piece of fabric.

It will soon be showcased at Pebblebed.

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