Dr. Ivona Tau is a generative A.I. artist from Vilnius, Lithuania, who works with neural networks and code as a medium in experimental photography and motion painting. Her goal is to find and evoke emotions through artificially intelligent tools. She creates universally relatable memories by transforming her experiences captured on analog and digital film through generative neural networks (GAN).
Tau comes from the intersection of arts and technology, with 15 years of combined experience in professional photography and A.I. research. She was awarded the best award in the Digital Ars 2020 contest for art created with AI, the Computer Animation category award in Computer Space International Computer Art Forum 2021, and elected as one of the TOP 10 Women in AI 2022 by the Women in Tech Foundation.
Tau’s work has been exhibited widely, including Art Basel Miami Beach, SCOPE, CAFA, Art Week Shenzhen, Vellum, Bitforms New York, Venus Over Manhattan, The House of Fine Art, Bright Moments Berlin, Christie's New York and Sotheby’s New York.
Ivona Tau is active in the research community and holds a Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence from the Polish-Japanese Academy of Information Technology. She published multiple scientific papers in the field of Computer Vision and Artificial Neural Networks.
Ivona Tau is currently represented by MTArt Agency.
FuLL BIO
Ivona Tau’s work is driven by the “metaphysical act of imagination” – worlds to get lost in. Aged 18, she became fascinated by photography as a way to observe the world and capture her changing surroundings. Tau started with her grandfather’s eighties Lomo LC-A lomography camera, allowing her to play with colour and texture, already going down the path of abstraction and the surreal. Growing up in Vilnius, and studying Mathematics in Warsaw, she witnessed the cities’ shift from a post-Soviet world to a Western and capitalist one. Today, the combination of cityscapes as utopias and/or dystopias is at the centre of Tau’s practice.
Later in life, she decided to combine her mathematical and computer knowledge with her taste for painting and photography – this practice of assemblage of medium, or merging of forms, enables Tau to create with wonder as she navigates the possibilities of technology. Interested in combining her surroundings and personal history into a computer-generated visuality, works such as Synthetic Still Lives, made with AI, feature objects found in her flat. For Tau, AI “allows seeing the world in a different way, beyond traditional conceptions.” Using different kinds of AIs, she trains her own models, turning them into personal tools – as individual as a painter’s stroke. Tau creates and breaks her compositions, playing with what the most recent technology has to offer to art making. This also enables her to revisit her own photographic archive – from her numerous meditative walks in the cities she lives in, such as in her series Blue Hours, 2020 – 2021, which explores the notions of solitude and absence in urban environments. Tau’s visual language blends futuristic aesthetics and cyber-punk culture. Oscillating between the hyper-realistic and the hyper-surrealist, the viewer becomes transfixed by the composition.
Illusion and fantasy are also key sources of inspiration for the artist, such as in the work of Man Ray (1890 – 1976) and Dora Maar (1907 – 1977), through to the contemporary experimental photography of Max Passadore, the cinema of David Lynch (b. 1946), and the colours of William Eggleston (b. 1939) and David LaChapelle (b. 1963). In darkrooms, Tau continues to experiment with her practice, using photography to shape new realities. More recently, Tau started to combine AI with long-form generative art – art that involves a coded random process – enabling the viewer to become a participant, creating their own model output. Interested in interactiveness, Tau aspires to create more immersive pieces. A mixed-media artist or coder artist, technology enables Tau to explore ideas of memory and imagination.
Education
2022 • Polish-Japanese Academy of Information Technology. PhD in Artificial Intelligence
2021 • New York Institute of Photography
2018 • Warsaw School of Photography and Graphic Design, Photography studies
2015 • Warsaw University, Master's degree in Mathematics
Exhibitions, SHOWS & AUCTIONS
Code Chronicles. Bitforms gallery, New York, US, 2023.
Generative Abstraction. Expanded.Art X Verse, Berlin, Germany, 2023.
MoCA Collection. IHAM Gallery, Paris, France, 2023.
ArtePro3 Launch. Jaka Labs, Mexico city, Mexico, 2023.
I, A(I)artist. Galerie Greulich, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 2023.
Evolving Pixels. Venus Over Manhattan, New York, US, 2023.
(Probably) All in the Mind. Verse, Cromwell Place, London, UK, 2023.
Beyond the Screen. HOFA, London, UK, 2023.
Brightmoments Tokyo, AI Collection. Tokyo, Japan, 2023.
Trail of Data Doppelgängers. NFC Lisbon, Portugal, 2023.
Secret Room by Project 22. Dubai, UAE, 2023.
Here After The Art. Prague, Czech Republic, 2023
Busan à l'heure de l'intelligence artificielle. Centre Culturel Coréen, Paris, France, 2023.
Nondescriptives (solo show). Bright Moments, Berlin, Germany, 2022.
Artist X AI 000002. Superchief Gallery, SCOPE, 2022.
POSITIONS Art Fair Berlin. Galerie Greulich booth, Germany, 2022.
Artists Who Code. Vellum, Los Angeles, US, 2022.
Unblock Gaudi. Museum of Applied Art, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 2022.
The Green Collection, curated by Zancan. Verse works, London, UK, 2022.
In Touch: Art in the age of post NFT-ism. Dekabinett, Berlin, Germany, 2022.
FEMGEN by Vertical Crypto Art. Miami, US, 2022.
Latent Glitches (solo show). HTNFT Gallery, Warsaw, Poland, 2022.
Pixel Mitosis: Anne Spalter, Minne Atairu & Ivona Tau. AskArthur, New York, US, 2022.
Art contemporain, urbain & ultra-contemporain (NFT). Fauve Paris, France, 2022.
Temporal Visions. Vizmesh, Times Square, New York, US, 2022.
Athenaeum, The Divine. House of Fine Art Gallery, London, UK, 2022.
Art & NFTs: The Digital Roots. Neuehouse during Frieze LA, US, 2022.
February Auction. Duran Arte y Subastas, Madrid, Spain, 2022.
Women of the World by Infinite Objects & Studio as we are. Nowhere gallery, New York, US, 2022.
Pixposure Generative Art Show. Galerie Greulich, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 2022.
Past is Prologue. Elizabeth Street Garden, New York, US, 2022.
NFT.NYC Diversity of NFTs Art Showcase. Times Square, New York, US, 2022.
Boundless Space... The Possibilities of Burning Man. Sotheby's, New York, US, 2021.
Deeep AI Art Fair. Frieze London, UK, 2021.
What hot sh!t a crypto art show. Galerie Greulich, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 2021.
Ars Electronica Garden. Culturelab, New York, 2021
Renaissance Protocol, Artificial Realities. Theaterlab, New York, US, 2021.
Crypto Art Week Asia. Singapore, 2021.
Athens Digital Arts Festival. Greece, 2021.
NFT.NYC Kickoff with Voice. DorDor Gallery, New York, 2021.
Dreamverse by Metapurse. Terminal 5, New York, 2021.
Neo Shibuya New Media Art. Tokyo, Japan, 2021.
Computational Measurements of Machine Creativity. CVPR, 2021.
XXIV Generative Art International Conference. Virtual conference, 2021.
Non-Fungible Castle NFT Exhibition. Lobkowicz Palace, Czechia, 2021.
NFTS.tips at Bitcoin conference. Miami, US, 2021.
Stratosphere NFT Art International. Beijing, China, 2021.
Anecoica Digital Art exhibit. Orwille's, Berlin, Germany, 2021.
Siuolaikines grafikos erdves. KKKC, Lithuania, 2021.
Menas Be Stogo. Vilnius, Lithuania, 2021.
New Found Things. Chopperchunky.com, 2021.
Digital Ars Festiwal Cyfryzacji. Warsaw, Poland, 2020.
Selected Press & Interviews
Conversations: Ira Greenberg and Ivona Tau, Outland, 2023.
Fusion of Photography and Artificial Intelligence by Ivona Tau. DailyArt Magazine, 2023.
Obrazy „malowane” przez sztuczną inteligencję są już sprzedawane za setki tysięcy dolarów. Kiedy ceny osiągną miliony? Forbes Poland, 2023.
The confusion caused by the inability to perceive in the mythical forests of Ivona Tau, Hype&Hyper, 2022.
VCA Curatorial Picks - week 20 June, 2022
6 Successful Women Leading The Generative Art Revolution, Kaloh.xyz, 2022.
Avances Arte y Mercado: Semana del Arte, The Art Market, 2022.
Ivonos Tau sėkmės formulė, 370 diena, 2022.
22 Women in NFTs to watch in 2022, Redlion, 2022.
Dialog sztuki z technologią, Kurier Wileński, 2022.
BeetsDAO Celebrates "The time stood still" by Ivona Tau, BeetsDAO, 2021.
Tweeterview with Ivona Tau, Electric Artifacts, 2021.
AI and virtual walks by Ivona Tau, Clot Mag, 2021.
A Different Type of NFT, A.I. Art - T2M#29 (feat. Ivona Tau), Talk2Much podcast, 2021.
NFT Artist Spotlight: Ivona Tau, Geek Culture, 2021.
Polska artystka tworzy tzw. AI art. Zobaczcie jej najnowsze dzieła, Whatnext.pl, 2021.
Znamy zwycięzców pierwszego konkursu dla artystów wykorzystujących .. , Digital Poland, 2021.
Laureaci Digital Ars o sztuce tworzonej przez AI, Business Insider, 2021.
Artificial Intelligence and Art - getting your hands dirty with artificial paint, Tooploox, 2021.
Unseen Warsaw (“Nematyta Varšuva”), Zurnalas Cikados, 2021.
Zobacz nieistniejaca Warszawe na tej nietypowej wystawie, Aktivist, 2021.
Art fund - Artist Interviews - Ivona Tau, tezardfund, 2021
Motion art: A new aesthetic, UNDRGRND, 2021.
"Smutne hulajnogi Warszawy": Fotografka zauwazyla powazny problem, Fotoblogia, 2020.
AWARDS & NOMINATIONS
Digital Ars festival for Art generated with Artificial Intelligence. 1st prize in Open and New
categories, 2021.
Computer Space Award in the Computer Animation category, 2021.
Selected TALKS & Recordings