Digital artwork by David Hockney displays on Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury
new digital artwork by painter David Hockney is being unveiled on stage at Glastonbury Festival.
The artist incorporates artificial intelligence (AI) for the first time as the project, titled I lived In Bohemia Bohemia Is A Tolerant Place, is displayed on Friday on the Pyramid Stage screens.
Hockney collaborated with Cultural Institute of Radical Contemporary Arts (CIRCA) to remove the figures from his acrylic painted series The Dancers (2014), replacing them with an empty, computer-generated landscape.
Co-organiser of Glastonbury Emily Eavis said: “Really cannot believe that we have the living legend that is David Hockney creating these wonderful paintings for our stages this year.
“We are truly honoured to show this work for the first time immediately before our very special guests on the Pyramid Stage this evening, and then across our main stages over the weekend.
“Thank you to CIRCA for bringing this fantastic project to life.”
Hockney created the one-minute video on his iPad in Normandy, France.
In May 2021, Hockney had billboard screens in six major cities present his digital sunrise.
Josef O’Connor, founder and artistic director of CIRCA, said. “It’s been one hundred years since perspective was last discussed, with Cubism.
“I suppose now that things are being generated by robots we have to look even closer with entirely fresh eyes.”
Mr O’Connor, who curated the work, added: “David Hockney and Glastonbury is a match made in heaven.
“Following our global sunrise in 2021, CIRCA is honoured to collaborate once again with the iconic British artist and inspire audiences with the presentation of this new digital-AI work on the equally iconic Pyramid Stage.
“We’re proud to promote bohemia’s unconventional ideals and celebrate notions of hope and togetherness that are echoed by one of the world’s greatest living artists.”