Artist Kazumasa Teshigawara—known by the label “qubibi"—invited Peter Bauman (Monk Antony) and thefunnyguys to his Shinjuku studio, offering a rare glimpse into the quiet center of his practice. Bauman reflects on how the experience highlights key themes in the artist’s approach—contradiction, cyclicality, repetition and discovery through stillness.

This is Part IV in a series on building a framework for appreciating generative art. In Part I, “Demystifying Generative Art,” Peter Bauman (Monk Antony) builds the case for such a framework. In Part II, “Demystifying Generative Aesthetics,” Bauman examines generative outputs—the results of generative systems. In Part III, "Demystifying Generative Systems," he examines generative systems themselves. Now in Part IV, Bauman investigates another framework component, autonomy—control within generative systems. The essay includes Bauman’s discussions with Christiane Paul, Matt DesLauriers, Sougwen Chung and Zach Lieberman.

Lawrence Lek, artist, filmmaker, musician and winner of the Frieze London Artist Award 2024, spoke with Peter Bauman (Monk Antony) to discuss AI as a philosophical and artistic subject, focusing on its implications for identity, place and humanity's relationship with technology. They also cover the geopolitical and corporate dynamics shaping AI development and the challenges of preservation in digital art.

Suzanne Treister, a pioneering media artist, is featured in Tate Modern’s ambitious historical digital art exhibition, Electric Dreams. The legendary early Amiga intervener discusses her practice as a holistic critique of technology, exploring the tensions between technological potential and societal risks, in conversation with Peter Bauman (Monk Antony).

Tate curator Val Ravaglia spoke with Peter Bauman (Monk Antony) about their major exhibition, Electric Dreams. They explore how artists historically used technology to test its creative potential and challenge its entanglement with unsavory powers while drawing subtle parallels to contemporary culture.

Rebecca Allen reflects on her pioneering work in digital art with Operator, the experiential artist duo of Ania Catherine and Dejha Ti. They discuss Allen's journey from inventing a new art form in the 1970s and 1980s to refining and integrating human emotion and sensuality into evolving technology from the 1990s onward.