Tabor Robak (1986, USA) is a Paris-based artist, who employs the visual vocabulary of contemporary video games and consumer culture to interrogate the role of technology within society. Using the latest digital tools, his work explores how socio-technological forces and the cultural economy mold our inner cognitive-emotional landscapes.
In recent months, Tabor Robak has been meticulously crafting a series of images, each constructed by editing together hundreds of AI-generated images into a larger composition. His goal is to explore the mixed feelings he harbors towards AI as a creative tool and encapsulate these sentiments within the artwork.
The artwork Nuke (2023) portrays a zoomed-out view of futuristic drug paraphernalia, tech items, and assorted brand insignias. This work is inspired by the recurring theme of fictional drugs in science fiction, such as Soma in "Brave New World" or Substance D in "A Scanner Darkly". In this piece, Robak is pondering the potential risks associated with AI usage, likening it to drug addiction. The artist imagines that an overreliance on such technologies could lead to a creatively stoned and stunned culture, indirectly imprinting "big-tech" on our identities, ideas, and cultural contributions.