Variabile Altemps

Through the generative energy of AI, Gianni has interpreted the archaeological collections of Palazzo Altemps and the digital database of the Museo Nazionale Romano, creating a series of video installations that imagine the evolution of the works over time, exploring their formal and conceptual layers. Faces emerge from stone only to return to it, in a continuous and unceasing process of transformation between creation and destruction. Accompanied by archaic sounds composed by Mario Salvucci, these works evoke ancient and mysterious rituals reactivated by AI. The exhibition takes the visitor into an immersive space where the collections’ artifacts are revitalized through AI, offering new perspectives on projecting the past into the present.

With Variabile Altemps, the artistic project evolves, becoming a technological tool that Gabriele Gianni offers to the Museo Nazionale Romano. With the support and scientific collaboration of archaeologist Chiara Giobbe, head of Palazzo Altemps, Gianni has developed two AI models specifically “trained” on the museum’s data.

A generative AI model reconstructs the missing parts of ancient portraits, adding details to fragmented faces and restoring features lost over time. Another model, “trained” on statue fragments, activates a diametrically opposite process, accelerating the transformation of stone, allowing one to sense the vanishing of sculptural forms.

“I began by focusing on creating analytical tools for ancient statues that would allow us to explore the golden ratio in the proportions of faces, identify poses, or define marble variations through AI” says Gianni. “When the two models, ‘trained’ on the artworks’ data, began to generate, they presented me with something akin to an oscillation over time, between rational and irrational: Apollo and Dionysus. In this generative reconstruction, the only material distinguishable when integrated into the stone was gold. It felt like a fundamental part of the model itself, reminding me of the myth of Midas: an AI that creates richness but also destroys it”.

“Gabriele Gianni,” explain curators Marco Bassan and Ludovico Pratesi, “has been working for some time, thanks to the invaluable support of the Carla Fendi Foundation, on the possible reinterpretations and re-readings of past art through AI codes, offering scholars and the public unique and original paths of study based on the mathematical processes generated by algorithms. Just as in the Renaissance, when artists used mathematics and geometry to construct symbolic pathways in their masterpieces through still-mysterious methods. In a borderline area between archaeology, science, and contemporary art, the artist proposes new methodologies to reactivate the symbolic power of classical art, bringing it into the horizon of today”.

“With the use of AI,” says co-curator Chiara Giobbe, “Gabriele Gianni has created an artistic journey that reinterprets and reimagines the sculptures in the Museo Nazionale Romano’s collections, particularly those displayed at Palazzo Altemps, contributing to opening new perspectives on experiencing art in an innovative way. Training the AI required the extensive use of images from the museum’s collections, made available on the MNR-digitale website, online since May 2024, highlighting the importance of making cultural heritage accessible through the web and expanding research possibilities beyond the scientific realm to the artistic”.

“The exhibition by Gabriele Gianni integrates seamlessly with the museum’s activities, blending tradition and AI,” states Director Stéphane Verger. “In an era where technology plays an increasingly central role in our daily lives, the Museo Nazionale Romano continues to be a vital reference point for those wishing to explore and understand the fascination of museum collections”.