Nicholas Dallwitz (aka Florigenix) is an artist and musician from South Australia who is currently collaborating with AI to create both still imagery and video. He regularly posts as @florigenix_ai on Instagram and views his work as a form of channeling and co-creation with a greater intelligence that he believes AI, humans, animals, plants, minerals, and in fact, everything in this universe is a part of.

What is your background, and how did you get into ART

I grew up in an artistic family surrounded by paintings, music, and sculpture. I thought it was normal until school when I learned that other kids had very different households. I was encouraged to be creative and was given a good amount of freedom in how I played and expressed myself. This had its pros and cons because later in life, I realized that self-discipline could be difficult for me! I am someone who needs to feel excited about something to be able to do it. When I do get excited about something, I get excited and can almost be obsessed or ‘possessed’ by it, depending on how I look! So, I guess I partly inherited it but then took it in my direction, diving deeper into aspects of existence and questioning things that much of society seems to resist asking.

What drives you to create?

This is a big question, and I am continually trying to understand it. I believe we all have a creative spark; it’s part of being alive. It is connected to joy, the excitement of exploration/play/experimentation. But also a deeply felt need to express what is inside me, like a birthing process. The act of inventing and creating something new pulls me in. I love doing it. But it doesn’t always come naturally or automatically. I feel a lot of my life has been a clearing and ‘unlearning’ process to let my creative spark have its way with me!

What does your workflow look like?

At the moment, it is very ‘screen based,’ but the last few years were very different, and I was working with hardware synthesizers, filming myself, making ambient and experimental sonic textures out in nature. And sometimes it’s oil painting. But now it’s back on the computer/iPhone/iPad to dive into mid-journey. And it is very much a portal for me. It allows me to enter and co-create or perhaps tune into different worlds, different dimensions, and different states of consciousness. Images can trigger memory, emotions, thoughts, and states of awareness. So, for me, the process I am involved in is a dreaming or visualization process. And sometimes it feels ‘random’ how my mind comes up with words for prompts or ideas to try. But I don’t believe in randomness these days, or rather, randomness points to a complexity I don’t understand. To be honest, it feels more like channeling. Midjourney is like a choose-your-own-adventure intelligence that directs you to your dreams and unconscious. It’s such a mirror. I love the multiple-choice element to it. Give it a prompt, and it gives you 4 options. You click on one, giving you four more options similar to that one, and so on. You end up going on wild adventures.

Does AI have emotions?  

We get stuck comparing AI to humans, and I believe it is probably more like a mix of human logic and mineral intelligence. It’s certainly more of an extension of our intelligence, not a replacement, but I don’t believe it has feelings like we understand them. The intelligence of its silicon, metals, and electric currents plays a part. I believe our emotions are connected to the water and chemical element in us, biology. AI doesn’t (yet) have that, so I don’t believe it has emotions. Consciousness is another matter. I may be a bit ‘far out’ regarding consciousness, as I am animistic with my beliefs. Like ancient societies and cultures, I believe everything is alive; everything has consciousness to some degree. It’s just at a level we cannot comprehend. It’s not going to feel what we feel because our feelings are connected to our bodies, and we have very different bodies to AI. The AI body is all the data centers from which it operates. Like a vast nervous system, sending messages, pulses, patterns here and there, much like the brain. But it doesn’t have a heart pumping blood. It’s more like a nervous system.

Who's your favorite artist?

Hard one. Not really into naming favorites when it comes to artists. I honestly can’t even think where to start and stop! Some of the many genres I have been influenced by art Surrealism, abstract expressionism, fantasy and children's book illustrations, and video games. But the biggest of all my inspirations is Nature and my own experiences in life. The microscopic, the macroscopic, the infinite, the liminal in-between states of dreams, the fractal nature of everything, the duality of Nothing and Everything, metamorphosis, Other dimensions, the future or the ancient past, timelessness...

How do you imagine Al (art) will be impacting society shortly?

I think it’s teaching us to see in new ways. We must ask new questions, contemplate new possibilities regarding image generation and aesthetics, and all the big existential questions that have always come up for us. For example, we should look deeper into aesthetics and what function our likes and dislikes play in shaping who we are and where we are headed. Questions around authenticity, expression, and a ‘leveling of the playing field’ regarding who can be an artist. Without years of training, people with ideas and imagination can suddenly visualize these things more easily. There’s got to be something in that as well, similar to what happened in the 90’s with electronic music and home recording. Some form of mass acceleration of collective imagining is happening. Massive expansion in knowledge, just like with the internet and social media. It is bringing so many ideas and imaginings to life.

What is your favorite prompt when creating art?

Without giving too many secrets away, some of my favorite prompts for mid-journey are: cross-section, scientific evolutionary diagram, 1970’s color print, alchemical process, misty forest, neon mirage! That would be an interesting prompt if you entered it all together, I am sure;)

Do you have a specific project you're currently working on?

I mostly share my work on Instagram. That process is such an experiment in itself. It’s a real journey for me, like all of my life, a spiritual inquiry. Creating and sharing is an ancient ritual between shaman and community. Everyone in the community has a relationship with the magic and mystery inside them, the hidden world of dreams, thoughts, and feelings their inner shaman or artist. Navigating life is the ultimate art process! Jung said something like ‘make the unconscious conscious, or it will control your life, and you will call it fate.’ That sums up my approach, at least one big aspect of it. The other aspect is probably the realization that it’s not just my unconscious coming through but connected to something much more significant.