Painting Fool at CUBRIC

The home of one of Europe's most powerful MRI scanners has also become the home of the world's first virtual artist in residence, as an autonomous computer artist takes its place amongst researchers at Cardiff University's Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC). The Painting Fool - a computer program and aspiring painter on a mission to be taken seriously as a creative artist in its own right - is being 'inspired' to paint works of art based on the work of the CUBRIC staff. It will be fed information such as dream reports, research papers, emails, tweets and brain scan images and will create new pieces of art every day from what it learns about CUBRIC. Staff and visitors to the Centre will be able to see each day's creation being painted in real-time on a screen in the foyer. The residency started with a collection of portrait images of the CUBRIC staff and paintings inspired by dream reports that were collected by researchers in the Neuroscience and Psychology of Sleep Laboratory. During its time at CUBRIC, the Painting Fool will attempt to learn from the work of the scientists as it produces art that will help them see their work in a new light and engage with the public. It is also hoped that the software will use its interactions with the staff to improve itself.