如果说中国传统山水画是艺术家心灵的个人表达，那就是「心灵风景」； 那么《山水》就是以可视化的形式洞悉了我们的集体潜意识。

山水，从字面上看：是一种传统的国画风格，它使用笔触和墨水而不是以传统的颜料来描绘风景或景观。 这种艺术形式突出了山脉，河流和瀑布。

到唐末，山水画已经发展成为一种独立的流派，体现了农民逃避日常生活与自然相处的普遍渴望。随着唐朝的瓦解，自然世界的概念退却成诗人和画家的主要主题焦点。在宋朝初期，对自然等级制度的看法成为对良好管理国家的隐喻。中国艺术家通常不画真实的地点，而是想像中的理想化风景。绘画不再是对可见世界的描述。它成为传达艺术家内心世界的一种手段。不是绘画他们所看到的，而是说他们所想的。这不是对观众的眼睛打开的窗口，但对于观众的心灵的课题。

《山水》是 XRT的一个互动式AI艺术装置作品。我们使用机器学习技术GAN（Generative Adversarial Network）来研究从宋代（即中国山水画的开端）到现在的数千个中国标志性山水画。观众可以共同创建一个人工智能：只需画线就可以创建风景画，然后机器将根据观众的输入以及GAN算法生成颜色/纹理/形状。观众的所有输入将被累积并显示在同一画布上，以新层形式出现。同时，所有2D的输入将实时转换为3D的物件。观众可以实时探索和共同创作这幅山水画的时间与空间。

在这项作品中，我们正在研究技术，特别是人工智能如何改变艺术创作的过程，以及艺术如何反映不同时代的不同价值，例如从个人到人群创作。如果说中国传统山水画是艺术家心灵的个人表达，那就是「心灵风景」；那麼《山水》就是以可视化的形式洞悉了我们的集体潜意识。在「山水」的语境下，《山水》也评论了我们文化中的「现实在哪里」？在中国传统绘画中，我们看到许多山脉，河流，花鸟。 但是我们很少看到战争，贫困和骚乱。那麼，技术是否有帮助？如果机器邀请观众对现实进行素描，观众会画些什麼？

If the traditional Chinese landscape painting is a personal expression, a “Mind Landscape”, of the artist’s heart & mind; then “Mountain & Water” is an insight of our collective subconsciousness now in the form of big data visualization!

Shan Shui (Chinese: 山水; pinyin: Shān Shuǐ; literally: “Mountain-Water”) refers to a style of traditional Chinese painting that involves or depicts scenery or natural landscapes, using a brush and ink rather than more conventional paints. Mountains, rivers and often waterfalls are prominent in this art form. By the late Tang dynasty, landscape painting (i.e., Shan Shui) had evolved into an independent genre that embodied the universal longing of cultivated men to escape their quotidian world to commune with nature. As the Tang dynasty disintegrated, the concept of withdrawal into the natural world became a major thematic focus of poets and painters. During the early Song dynasty, visions of the natural hierarchy became metaphors for the well-regulated state. Chinese artists do not usually paint real places but imaginary, idealized landscapes. Painting was no longer about the description of the visible world; it became a means of conveying the inner landscape of the artist’s heart and mind. It’s not to present what they have seen, but what they have thought. It’s not an open window for viewer’s eye, but an object for the viewer’s mind.

“Mountain & Water” is an interactive A.I. installation by XRT. Where we are using the machine learning technology, GAN (Generative Adversarial Network), to study over thousands of iconic Chinese landscape paintings from Song Dynasty (i.e. the beginning of the Chinese landscape painting) to now. And audience can co-create an A.I. created landscape painting by as simple as drawing lines, then the machine will generate the color/ texture/ shape according to the input from the audience together with the GAN algorithm. All inputs from the audience will be accumulated & shown on the same canvas, and present as a new layer. And at the same time, all 2D inputs will transform into a 3D object in real time. Audience can explore & interact with the Time & Space of this co-created landscape painting in real time.

In this work, we are studying how technology, especially A.I., changes the process of creating art, as well as how art reflecting the different value of different eras, e.g., from individual to crowd creation. If the traditional Chinese landscape painting is a personal expression, a “Mind Landscape”, of the artist’s heart & mind; then “Mountain & Water” is an insight of our collective subconsciousness now in the form of big data visualization!

With the context of Shan Shui, “Mountain & Water” also commenting “Where is the Reality” in our culture? While in our Chinese traditional painting, we see lots of mountains, rivers, flowers & birds; yet we don’t see wars, poverty & riots very often. So, if technology helps? What the audience will draw if the machine invites them to do a sketch of their reality?