Mat Dryhurst on AI, Protocols, and the Future of Art
In a conversation with Anika Meier for SLEEK, Mat Dryhurst, an artist, criticizes the often reactive and poorly informed discussions surrounding AI in the art sector, stressing the importance of technical knowledge. Together with Holly Herndon, he has investigated AI's influence on authorship and culture through initiatives such as Holly+, Spawning, and Starmirror (2025, KW Berlin). Dryhurst sees artists as 'protocol designers' and questions the cultural effects of the attention economy. He favors the term 'creator' over 'artist' and talks about the exhibition Strange Rules (2026, Venice), which includes non-artists like Michael Levin and Ken Stanley. He remains hopeful about AI's ability to rise above the attention economy, emphasizing the need for public comprehension and open-source frameworks.
Key facts
- Mat Dryhurst is a creator, researcher, and writer working across art, machine learning, and digital culture.
- Dryhurst and Holly Herndon have developed projects including Holly+, Spawning, Starmirror, and Strange Rules.
- Starmirror was exhibited at KW Berlin in 2025 and K21 Düsseldorf.
- Strange Rules was exhibited at Palazzo Diedo, Venice in 2026.
- Dryhurst defines slop as 'the media that attention networks prompt humans to make.'
- He argues that the attention economy has shaped culture more than AI.
- Dryhurst prefers the term 'creator' over 'artist,' citing the creator economy's revival of pre-Enlightenment creativity.
- He advocates for artists to become protocol designers rather than image makers.
- Strange Rules included non-artists like Michael Levin (developmental biologist) and Ken Stanley (machine learning researcher).
- Dryhurst criticizes the art world's reactive discourse on AI and recommends Twitter, arXiv, and research papers as better information sources.
- He believes AI could help move beyond the attention economy, citing Anthropic's constitution as an example.
- The interview was conducted by Anika Meier for SLEEK magazine.
Entities
Artists
- Mat Dryhurst
- Holly Herndon
- Anika Meier
- Hito Steyerl
- Trevor Paglen
- Brad Troemel
- Vuk Ćosić
- Ken Stanley
- Michael Levin
- Dom Hofmann
Institutions
- KW Institute for Contemporary Art Berlin
- K21 Düsseldorf
- Serpentine Gallery London
- Palazzo Diedo Venice
- Strange Rules
- Spawning
- Holly+
- OpenAI
- Anthropic
- The New York Times
- The Guardian
- SLEEK magazine
- Städelschule
- arXiv
- Vine
- Loot
- Substack
Locations
- Berlin
- Germany
- Düsseldorf
- London
- United Kingdom
- Venice
- Italy
- Munich
- Indonesia
- United States