Blog written by James Smuts a 3rd year Motion Design student
The Cape Town Creative Academy recently hosted the well-known Stephen Milborrow and his latest creation; a sketch-artist robot by the name of Nonoti who draws portraits of anyone happy to sit down for a few minutes. With such a great opportunity, CTCA was proud to provide a space for Nonoti and Milborrow, and this special experience to take place, which even transformed into an exhibit of its own. This impromptu exhibition was quite unique to witness, and it pokes the brain to consider what creations like Nonoti mean for a multitude of cases.
Nonoti, Milborrow’s portrait drawing machine, has been exhibited in venues as diverse as the Cape Town Science Centre and the San Francisco Museum Of Modern Art.
Nonoti’s artworks are created uniquely for each and every individual who sits down for a portrait, signing off with it’s own name under every piece. A simple gesture, but one that prompts discussion of ownership, authorship and copyright; especially amidst corporate pushing of Gen A.I. and art software. For Milborrow, the question of Nonoti’s authorship is nuanced as it is equal parts a coalition of himself as an artist and an engineer, and that of Nonoti as a device that has developed it’s own style . “Nonoti is a tool, but it does have some kind of agency of its own” he stated, noting that Nonoti’s lack of internet connection and external input meant that any creative decisions were based on Milborrow’s coding, but solely executed by Nonoti during each portrait drawing.
Milborrow described himself as a “foot soldier in the war against the corporatisation of attention”, identifying how corporate and non authentic Generative A.I is. He agreed that artists have always had to move past and up out of new and job-threatening technology, like photography from back in the day to A.I. of our time now, stating that “we don’t want to lose our humanity through technology”. Nonoti stands as a representation of Milborrow’s stand on artistic ingenuity and authenticity, as a craft of machinery that has its own style and personality forged from Milborrow’s input into the computer. Authenticity and creativity for the sake of expression is at the core of Milborrow’s ideology of art-making, and when thinking about it against corporatisation of art making, he said, “Artists will continue to make authentic art, one way or the other. And we need to stay hopeful for that”.
In hosting this event, the CTCA has highlighted its recent implementation of more technical courses within its creative field such as Creative Coding and Technical Development. Having a course like this in a creative institution where art and technology can be blended in such a way, one that even Milborrow was interested to hear about, can hopefully show many new students how having skills in what seems like vastly different areas might be far more beneficial than any of us could have thought yesterday.
Milborrow and Nonoti’s visit to the CTCA is an exciting look at opportunities in technology and creative arts in Africa, and bringing attention to and placing it upon a Shona-named robot from a UCT-taught engineer/artist is incredibly important for the country and its prospects for the future. In turbulent times like these with careers for artists seemingly on the line against new A.I models, Milborrow and Nonoti stand as an example of working with the times, while also remaining authentic to who you are as an artist and as a person.
Blog written by James Smuts, 3rd year Motion Design student