Generative AI based artwork: self-hosted workflows for images and video production

Abstract

Generative AI technologies are at the center of many debates. To better understand the challenges these technologies raise in the arts, we conducted a creative project based entirely on open-source, self-hosted models. This practice-based research approach in digital arts and technologies enabled us to co-produce Pierrot Lunaire, based on Arnold Schönberg’s musical work, as part of a large-scale European project exploring AI and creativity. In this article, we present a detailed and comprehensive study of the workflows we discovered and implemented, and suggest some of the consequences of introducing these technologies into our artistic practice.