Museum of Change: AI-Generated Art in Vienna’s City Center

(eap) Since October, a new, freely accessible art project has been open to Vienna’s residents and visitors to the Austrian capital in the city center: the MUSEUM OF CHANGE (MOC) has opened in the Dominikanerhof of the former Imperial Main Post Office. This is a project by Vienna-based artist SHA, who is known for his multimedia art formats. According to the initiator, the MOC does not see itself as a classical museum, but rather as a continuously evolving process. Around 25,000 visitors are said to have been counted in the first month alone.

Covering an area of more than 5,000 square meters, the MOC combines historic architecture with AI-supported media art. Generated visual worlds are projected live onto the façade of the historic building and are accompanied by likewise generated soundscapes. More than 50 projectors as well as LED, laser and fog systems are used, complemented by an audio system with more than 100 loudspeakers. The visual implementation is based on the software vvvv, while the programming language Max/MSP is used for the audio section. The content is based on databases fed with curated images and sounds from the artist’s personal archive, thematically structured into “Environment”, “Human”, “Macrocosm”, and “Microsphere”.

Der Wiener Künstler SHA ist Initiator und Gestalter dieser besonderen Installation. © MOC/Ouriel Morgensztern

The starting point for the project was the conversion of the former Old Post Office, during which numerous historical objects were discovered. In cooperation with the WIEN MUSEUM, parts of these finds are now being exhibited at the very location where they had lain in the ground for centuries or even millennia. The aim of the MOC is said to be to create a connection between past, present and future: while the finds stand for the past, the constantly changing visual and sound world shapes the present. Representing the future is a paid AI guide, which is intended to accompany visitors through the exhibition and open imaginary spaces. The AI guide was developed in-house by the SHA team and allows visitors to interact with the system via QR codes at 13 stations. The guide provides individual answers as well as background information, among other things on the creation and functioning of the project.

The MOC is permanently free to access. In addition, special highlights await visitors every hour daily between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. In the long term, the project is intended to remain in place and integrate art more strongly into urban everyday life. Media architecture is understood as an independent concept – not as a show, but as a place of slowing down, encounter and as “art in the living urban space”. ■