I Thought Disturbing Artists Were Unhinged. MORE CARNAGE Proved Me Wrong.

We are excited for the release "MORE CARNAGE" and it has definitely been one of the most insightful experiences in my creative career.

What is "MORE CARNAGE"?

 "MORE CARNAGE" is the sequel to "CARNAGE" by Asycd, a digital art collection created by Asycd in 2023 which explored the creative constraints limiting supposedly explicit, violent or disturbing content generation. We tried to bypass the constraints put in place by AI model providers through innovative prompt engineering techniques and it was pretty well received.

For the sequel, we wanted to create something even more outlandish and absurd but we needed help from other artists. The theme and goal is the same but the means is different this time around.

We launched our open call for artists from all backgrounds and mediums to submit their work and the rest was history. 

The plan was to create a digital art exhibition in which we showcase the selected submissions on our website but also Asyra AI via an interactive gallery experience.

How it Went?

We received more submissions than we initially thought. What I learned during the submissions process is that Asycd has the appeal to traditional artists despite the nature of our work and research which is obviously generative AI and AI-art, the anti-Christ to traditional artists.

Even after the deadline hit, people continued to submit via our regular communication channels which was quite funny. 

We selected over 20 artists which was not the plan initially but we wanted to make this collection as big as possible. This came with its issues, huge inboxes, managing emails from different artists, reaching out for clarifications and edits and much more drained us.

The artworks submitted I believe were some of the weirdest but most interesting art pieces I have ever seen.

The Interviews

I wanted to take advantage of this opportunity. I don't have many opportunities to ask artists about their craft in this context so I organized some online and in-persons interviews to discuss their work.

I was particularly interested in their views on creative freedom in modern art, balancing morality with expression, and more.

My preconceived understanding of artists who make provocative, disturbing, and explicit art was always along the lines of them being mentally corrupted, lacking clarity in their thinking and maybe even demonically influenced. I think that is consensus opinion on anyone that tries step too far out the box. You're crazy. Sometimes they are crazy but in most cases it's just art in purest form.

I think that understanding or belief was crushed during the interview phase in which artists showed incredible amounts of self-reflection and empathy for the viewers. However, despite this empathy, they remain completely dedicated to ensuring their creative freedom is unfiltered and uncensored. It seems to supersede everything else.