Harold Cohen: AARON

Is artificial intelligence really the enemy of original thinking? Harold Cohen (1928–2016) would not have said so. Having made his name as a successful painter in London in the 1950s and ’­60s, Cohen moved to San Diego and embarked on what would become his life’s work: AARON, a computer programme that could take specially written computer code and, when connected to special automated pens and paintbrushes, generate original artworks. Cohen programmed AARON with a basic understanding of the principles of painting, and the resulting works are mostly of figures, often cartoonishly angular and filled in with solid blocks of colour. The Whitney Museum of American Art is exhibiting many of these pictures, along with other, more abstract artworks created by various versions of the AARON software, in a homage to one of the first artists to put computer technology at the centre of his practice (3 February–May). Find out more from the Whitney’s website.

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AARON KCAT (2001), Harold Cohen. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. © Harold Cohen Trust

AARON KCAT (2001), Harold Cohen. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. © Harold Cohen Trust

AARON KCAT (2001), Harold Cohen. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. © Harold Cohen Trust