Bulgari Have Created A Massive Art Installation Through AI, Inspired By Their Snake Emblem
If you thought fashion week was the most exciting event to have taken place in Milan recently, think again: a few days ago, Bulgari opened a jaw-dropping new art installation, created through AI.
The Rome-based jeweller partnered with award-winning media artist Refik Anadol to make the immersive, digital artwork, said to be the first conceived by artificial intelligence for a luxury brand.
The inspiration? The concept of metamorphosis, embodied by Bulgari’s signature snake emblem.
'I've been working with data and AI for 10 years and I've always tried to be a pioneer in the field,' says Anadol. 'I'm honoured to work with a brand like Bulgari. One of the most inspiring things about the company is its approach to luxury, perfection and craftsmanship.'
'Art, design, science and technology can’t be separated anymore - we’re in a new era.'
The Serpenti symbol ‘joins together the brand’s main categories, from jewels and watches to the bags,’ says Jean-Christophe Babin, chief executive officer of Bulgari, adding that the work ‘is totally innovative in art and in art applied to luxury’.
The piece is installed outside Milan’s cathedral in the main square, Piazza Duomo, and will be open to the public from the October 31 before heading to other cities across the world.
The artwork will then be converted into an NFT (the latest digital frontier in the art world) and auctioned, with the proceeds donated to charity.
It will become the first large-scale, luxury-immersive, AI-driven non-fungible token piece of artwork when it’s converted.
The piece itself is a complicated feat of data engineering: Anadol has built a machine that has the ability to learn what a flower is - its colours, patterns and shapes - and can then ‘create’ flowers artificially, offering an alternative natural reality.
He has also created a separate artwork that uses a learning algorithm trained on more than 120,000 snake images, resulting in a digital representation of Bulgari’s famous reptile.
To make the multi-sensory experience even more immersive, Anadol worked with perfumer Sophie Labbé and Firmenich to create the first AI-imagined fragrance, called ‘Rainforest’.
The opening night saw Chiara Ferragni, Iris Law and Tina Kunakey descend on the Piazza to see the installation, where they were entertained by singer Noemi, and a DJ set from Graziano della Nebbia.
One thing’s for sure: Bulgari’s latest venture into the art world sets a new precedent for luxury fashion houses everywhere.
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