PAINTING THE PECULIARITY
Holding on to humanity in art in the age of AI
a talk by Rima Staines
We have reached a point in history where the difference between humanmade and robotmade is becoming increasingly hard to discern. AI is rapidly colonising our imagination and there appears to be minimal pushback. Our human discernment is having tricks played upon it - how do we tell what is real anymore? And, more importantly, where is the soul leaking out? AI imagery, music and writing makes many of us feel a deep unease in its smooth, creepy, soulless “perfection”, but it only becomes more and more ubiquitous by the day.
I feel a deepening concern about the atrophying of the wilder parts of our souls and senses that recognise other souls behind human eye-and-hand-and-heart-made art, the longer we are fed this plastic masquerade. Art with soul will always speak to us more profoundly than anything trying to mimic it, but is it in jeopardy of being lost altogether? How do we hold onto it?
This online presentation examines this question and more. Our ancient urge to make imagery, music and story comes from a fundamental need in humans to make manifest something ineffable that lives and moves in, through and around us. We have had in place cultural mechanisms and practices for soul-making since the beginning. Through honouring the roughness, friction and unexpectedness of the handmade, these practices kept alive a soulful numinosity that is a vital part of our humanity.
How do we fight back against this plastic masquerade that is being sold to us as “art”, made by machines that are entirely unable to feel? What happens to a culture whose very enspirited material is undermined and replaced by empty shells with nothing behind the eyes? Clearly there are many arguments to be made against the great AI devourer - its decimation of nature, concerns about surveillance, copyright, misinformation, cognitive decline, and plenty more. Perhaps even counter-arguments about its usefulness as a tool? But here I want to focus specifically on the soul-loss that it is perpetuating, by exploring aspects of art and folklore that both warn us and point us in an entirely different direction.
The presentation begins with my new painting that is inspired by the old Eastern European Jewish story of the Golem, an eerily perfect allegory for the times we are in. We journey on through my research into strangeness, difference and misrule, in my own art and more widely. We will explore the artistic qualities of strangeness, uniqueness and mistakes as roots for true creative aliveness, delving into ideas of the Imagination as Otherworld and asking questions about how we can push back against the creeping soul-loss.
Join me for an hour-long online talk, followed by half an hour for discussion, to which I encourage you to bring your own experiences, insights and questions - I would love to open up a conversation about this.
✸ 7pm UK TIME, 3rd November 2026
✸ This talk will be recorded. Ticket purchase includes recording.
✸ Your zoom link will arrive by email after purchasing this ticket.
✸ Please email me at hello@rimastaines.com with any questions.
PAINTING THE PECULIARITY
Holding on to humanity in art in the age of AI
a talk by Rima Staines
We have reached a point in history where the difference between humanmade and robotmade is becoming increasingly hard to discern. AI is rapidly colonising our imagination and there appears to be minimal pushback. Our human discernment is having tricks played upon it - how do we tell what is real anymore? And, more importantly, where is the soul leaking out? AI imagery, music and writing makes many of us feel a deep unease in its smooth, creepy, soulless “perfection”, but it only becomes more and more ubiquitous by the day.
I feel a deepening concern about the atrophying of the wilder parts of our souls and senses that recognise other souls behind human eye-and-hand-and-heart-made art, the longer we are fed this plastic masquerade. Art with soul will always speak to us more profoundly than anything trying to mimic it, but is it in jeopardy of being lost altogether? How do we hold onto it?
This online presentation examines this question and more. Our ancient urge to make imagery, music and story comes from a fundamental need in humans to make manifest something ineffable that lives and moves in, through and around us. We have had in place cultural mechanisms and practices for soul-making since the beginning. Through honouring the roughness, friction and unexpectedness of the handmade, these practices kept alive a soulful numinosity that is a vital part of our humanity.
How do we fight back against this plastic masquerade that is being sold to us as “art”, made by machines that are entirely unable to feel? What happens to a culture whose very enspirited material is undermined and replaced by empty shells with nothing behind the eyes? Clearly there are many arguments to be made against the great AI devourer - its decimation of nature, concerns about surveillance, copyright, misinformation, cognitive decline, and plenty more. Perhaps even counter-arguments about its usefulness as a tool? But here I want to focus specifically on the soul-loss that it is perpetuating, by exploring aspects of art and folklore that both warn us and point us in an entirely different direction.
The presentation begins with my new painting that is inspired by the old Eastern European Jewish story of the Golem, an eerily perfect allegory for the times we are in. We journey on through my research into strangeness, difference and misrule, in my own art and more widely. We will explore the artistic qualities of strangeness, uniqueness and mistakes as roots for true creative aliveness, delving into ideas of the Imagination as Otherworld and asking questions about how we can push back against the creeping soul-loss.
Join me for an hour-long online talk, followed by half an hour for discussion, to which I encourage you to bring your own experiences, insights and questions - I would love to open up a conversation about this.
✸ 7pm UK TIME, 3rd November 2026
✸ This talk will be recorded. Ticket purchase includes recording.
✸ Your zoom link will arrive by email after purchasing this ticket.
✸ Please email me at hello@rimastaines.com with any questions.
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