Arno Coenen

Arno Coenen graduated in 1997 from the Academie Minerva in Groningen. A year later he also obtained an MFA in computer graphics at Media-GN, Groningen. He lives and works in Dordrecht. Coenen works across a wide range of media: from video art and 3D animation to stained glass and mosaic. All of his projects are developed with the aid of computers. His work frequently connects with contemporary subcultures, youth culture, and popular culture. He is particularly interested in outspoken subcultures such as hooliganism, heavy metal, and martial arts. Coenen's art is considered highly accessible and has a social character, which is why he is regularly described as a "people's artist". On most of his projects, Coenen works in collaboration with others. From 1994 to 1999 he worked regularly with fellow artist René Bosma. Coenen is also active as a VJ, curator, and organiser. In June 2022, Coenen was introduced to OpenAI — the American artificial intelligence research company — by creative director Rodger Werkhoven, who is based in Amsterdam. At the time, OpenAI's image-generating AI, DALL-E 2, was still in the research phase. In July 2022, on Werkhoven's recommendation, Coenen joined a select group of Dutch artists and creative professionals with access to the AI, with the goal of training it through creative experimentation and addressing societal biases. When DALL-E 2 entered beta at the end of July, Coenen made public his first artworks produced with the AI: three series, including a portrait series of Anthropocene children at landfill sites, a series of children with smartphones in mountain mist, and a series of still lifes combining birds, food scraps, flowers, and household waste — all Anthropocene in character and critical of the problem of waste. == Works ==