Nora Atkinson

Is it music?

Because it isn't communicating anything.

And I think that's really at the soul of a lot of this.

How do you keep the soul in the work?

Right.

I find when I'm experimenting with any kind of AI tool that the first time it's really, really cool.

And after you've done it for a few sessions, you realize some of the same tropes come up again and again.

Right.

And that's where you start to become more adept at telling a story with it.

So I don't think there's any danger that artists are going to go away.

They're just going to transform.

For sure.

I like to remind people, for instance, that the Jacquard loom was part of the history of computing and all of these things are part of the same spectrum, so...

How does curiosity play a role in what you do?

That is why our jobs are fun.

Because my job as well as a curator is all about just running down whatever thing I'm super curious about because someone else will be curious about that.

And if it really gets you excited, and usually it's a risky proposition like quitting Burning Man in the Smithsonian.

If it really starts to hit that spot in the back of your brain that you're like, why can't I just do this?

Then you get the opportunity to lead that charge.

So interestingly, again, I'm a curator of craft in basically an art world, and there aren't very many of us, and craft is kind of a sidelight, and I think it gives us permission to do things that you couldn't necessarily do in the art world at large.