Memories of Passersby I by Mario Klingemann

While first exhibited in January 2019 at Madrid’s Colección SOLO, Memories of Passersby I is an AI artwork generating an endless stream of unique, real-time portraits. A fully autonomous physical installation, the work features a neural network of multiple GANs housed in a chestnut wood cabinet, linked to two framed screens. Unlike traditional generative art, it does not rely on a database but continuously creates new images pixel by pixel, ensuring no repetition. Klingemann trained the AI using 17th- to 19th-century portraits and his surrealist aesthetic preferences. The work would go on to be sold by Sotheby’s in March 2019, a continued indication of institutional interest in AI art.