Meet  AIVA —the female humanoid artist. She is in her mid-thirties, young and beautiful. But not only that, she is also unbelievably creative. This female AI artist, who was designed by a cis-male engineering team, has the task of contributing more diversity to the art world and to offer a female perspective.  AIVA  is studying the male nude, preparing preliminary sketches for her next masterpiece. Exploring different postures in male nude painting, she is examining masculinity in its diverse forms and shapes. A cliché-ridden “art documentary” introduces us to the female AI artist  AIVA. The viewer has the extraordinary opportunity to take a look inside her studio and to observe her working process. The film ends with the opening of  AIVA ’s solo exhibition, where her artworks are on display. She is surrounded by her gallerist and the engineer team that created her. The works by the female AI artist have already sold out, bringing in over 1.2 million dollars for her creator. What an incredible success story.

Given the systematic unequal treatment of women in the arts and the widespread historical myth of the male genius, which has been cultivated for centuries in the Western world, the project  AIVA  raises the problematic question about female genius in the form of artificial intelligence, created by cis-males. The film focuses on the lack of female perspectives in the field of artificial intelligence today and what this leads to—a world in which algorithms that are designed to serve human needs are presented as female. Be it Siri, Alexa, Cortana, Samantha, Ai-Da, or  AIVA —they all exist to be there, at your service.

Links: https://venetaandrova.com/works/aiva

Director, script, animation, editing: Veneta Androva
Music, sound design, audio mastering: Nadia D'Aló, Benedikt Frey
Voice: Vivienne Pettitt
With support from: Bulgarian Fund for Women

Veneta Androva (BG) is a visual artist who graduated in Fine Arts from Weißensee Academy of Art Berlin, did part of her study at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem, and also obtained a degree in History of Art and Philosophy from Humboldt University Berlin. In her work she combines diverse media and sources such as archival and documentary material with paintings, all related through animation in simulated environments. Androva is also the recipient of several scholarships, such as the Cusanuswerk scholarship (2016-2019) and the Elsa Neumann scholarship by the Federal State Berlin (2020), and she was nominated for the German Short Film Award with her film  From My Desert in 2020.