Talking with X New Worlds, we discover a dimension that lies between wakefulness and the subconscious. The artist presents and embodies a detailed yet unclassifiable aesthetic, where distant memories and dreamlike hallucinations blend and shape one another. Following the White Rabbit to enter the land of wonders, where artificial intelligence serves as the creator, and a disturbing undercurrent of unease keeps us captivated on the screen.
Tell us about who is behind X New Worlds: the starting point of your journey , when did you manage to find your distinctive style, and how would you describe yourself in the current artistic market?
I am a digital designer and visual artist based in London. My job is creative and I’ve always loved exploring different digital techniques and tools such as coding, 3D, animation and digital collage as well as more traditional mediums such as painting and drawing. In the summer of 2023 I started X New Worlds (previously known as Experimental New Worlds) as a playground for learning new tools coming out and exploring AI and digitalism as a medium. Recently, I’ve enjoyed examining the intersection between physical and digital worlds.
The way you produce art involves the use of AI, considering it as a means capable of turning intangible visions into reality. Why did you favour this tool over more material techniques? And looking to your future, do you foresee a possible change, adopting a completely different approach?
I enjoy experimentation, learning and keeping up-to-date with new softwares and tools. AI feels like a whole new conceptual movement – similar to the advent of photography – and that’s incredibly exciting to me. There is so much of it that is still unexplored too – for example mixing traditional mediums with AI, or revisiting old projects and giving them a new trajectory by utilising AI methodologies. I think the best part of AI is its unpredictability and idiosyncrasies – that’s what makes the most interesting work rather than anything overly homogenous.
“The way AI sifts through troves of data reminds me of how brains process our memories during sleep.”
Delving into the psycho-oniric theme, the soul of your works, what is your relationship with it? Is there a research background or does the first source of inspiration come from personal analysis? Tell us about your dreams, how they are reflected in your art, and to what extent the creative flow, both day and night, is spontaneous or controlled.
I did create an extensive series around the different phenomenological states of sleep, such as lucid dreaming, sleep paralysis, insomnia and false awakening. What all of these states have in common is that you are on the precipice of being awake and asleep. A multitude of interesting things happen within these mental states that I wanted to explore. The way AI sifts through troves of data reminds me of how brains process our memories during sleep. It means that AI as a tool is inherently dream-like, which makes it a perfect medium to explore the nature of consciousness.
What sensations or states do you wish to evoke in people and what do you yourself want to perceive when observing a work of art? Which emotions, in your opinion, signal a successful creative outcome?
I think art is incredibly personal so what resonates with me might not resonate for the next person. My favourite kind of art is art that makes me feel and think. I also think art is contextual insofar that it has significance based on its particular instantiation to a particular moment in history and what came before it. I think the best kind of art is the art that breaks boundaries in some way for its time. If you look at all the movements in art history they were artists who were the pioneers of the time – experimenting and often creating work that shocked in some way for the time. We are all standing on the shoulders of giants in that regard.
“I want to explore all of these parallel universes that are on the edge of conscious and subconscious realities”
Share with us a childhood memory that marked you, that you see reflected in your imprint or that somehow led you towards it, whether it is disturbing or cheerful, something hidden that you can tell us.
I have a memory of my cousin and I building an imaginary world together that was so rich in detail. We would get lost in it for days and viscerally be there together. I think to this day I’ve always enjoyed losing myself in different worlds ( I love sci fi and fantasy books for instance). My artwork is similar in that I want to explore all of these parallel universes that are on the edge of conscious and subconscious realities. It’s a big part of the reason I picked the moniker X New Worlds – a playground to explore and experiment with exponential new worlds.
Looking ahead, are there any projects you are currently working on or have set as a major goal?
I’m going to be a part of an exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in London later on in the year and am working hard towards that at the moment. I also have an exciting collaboration with someone in the special effects world where we are exploring the intersection of our physical and digital worlds. Looking at movement in a physical space, and slowly extrapolating and degenerating that into the digital realm.
Red pill / Blue pill
Credits:
Artist: X New Worlds / @x_new_worlds
Interview: Annalisa Fabbrucci / @annalisa_fabbrucci
Editor: Maria Abramenko / @mariabramenko