We Visited DiGen Art In Hamra, And It’s Actually Really Cool

For the Hamra goers who have seen the Pac-Man looking logo somewhere on Abdelaziz Street, we’re here to tell you exactly what that place is. DiGen Art, which stands for digitally generated art, is Lebanon’s first and only digital art gallery.

Since it’s located near our offices, we frequently see its curious green logo, but we finally made the decision to check it out and see what it’s all about. Honestly, we didn’t know what to expect – how can you have a digital art gallery? Is digital art really art? What TF is digital art anyway?

^{Photo taken by Beirut.com.}

As an art purist (meaning I equate art with canvases and paint brushes), I wasn’t expecting much. However, we met one of their team members, Alex, who was more than happy to answer all our questions.

What is digital art?

According to Alex, digital art is art generated using digital tools, like Photoshop, Illustrator, digital photography, coding like Java Script, artificial intelligence – and no, that does not mean that everyone can be a digital artist just by generating an AI portrait and calling it a day.

Think of it this way: when the camera was invented, people thought that meant the end of realist art. Anyone could own a camera, take photos, and replace every artist who could create realist paintings. But…that’s not the case. Sure, realist paintings aren’t really a thing anymore – but not everyone with a good phone camera is a good photographer.

One important question I had for Alex was, “Doesn’t AI steal art from other artists to generate something for you?” and his short answer was yes BUT it’s not that simple.

^{Photo taken by Beirut.com.}

Apparently, the way AI works is that it uses hundreds of artworks as a basis to generate the artwork, so basically, it takes inspiration from a huge database. That doesn’t mean it’s ripping off other artists. For example, Denis Villeneuve was heavily inspired by the Tatooine scenes from Star Wars when creating Dune. Does that mean he ripped it off? Not really, those movies are nothing alike.

Or let’s generalize it. If an author has read over a thousand books in their lifetime, wouldn’t you expect them, in one way or another, to draw inspiration from many of those books to create something original?

How did it all start?

Digital art actually started back in the 60s, when people started experimenting with computers. You’ll find a series of the world’s first ever digitally generated art on display at DiGen Art – and one of them was made by a Lebanese artist!

^{Image source: rcmgalerie}

We were genuinely surprised to learn that one of the world’s earliest digital artists was Lebanese (why are Lebanese people literally everywhere?), and her name was Monique Nahas. Back in 1969, Nahas and her partner Hervé Huitric cofounded the Groupe Art et Informatique de Vincennes in the department of computer sciences at Université Paris VIII. They worked closely with computers and explored how they could generate colored images through computer algorithms.

^{Photo taken by Beirut.com.}

Can you imagine how difficult that was back then? Computers didn’t even have screens and took up entire rooms, so they had to generate the art, print it out, see what it looks like, then try again for a different result.

Back then, digital art wasn’t considered art, so no one really showed any of these digital artists any appreciation. They came together and had their own exhibition of digitally generated art, which you can check out at DiGen!

What else can you find at DiGen Art?

Well, apart from impressive artwork by international artists, which includes digitally generated portraits, videos, and even short movies, DiGen will also be holding an exhibition by local artists.

^{Photo taken by Beirut.com.}

When you visit, you’ll also find a variety of postcards, t-shirts, and portraits that were created by their team.

Alex’s creations were particularly impressive. He had inputted lines from famous Arabic poems by Said Akl, Gibran Khalil Gibran, Elia Abou Madi, and many more so that he could generate art inspired by those poems. The results were BEAUTIFUL.

^{Photo taken by Beirut.com.}

Are you interested in digitally generated art, or do you want to become a digital artist yourself? You should definitely pay DiGen Art a visit. Check out the wonderful video from our visit:

Click here for their exact location, or reach out to them on Instagram for more information.