Smart Cities Opens the Next Chapter of Creative Expression

Time of Red seven channel video installation
Photo by: Danielle Rodriguez

By Danielle Rodriguez 

Walking into the Smart Cities exhibit felt like stepping into a sensory vortex, an electrifying collision of light, sound and digital architecture that left me both overwhelmed and intrigued. Initially, the idea of AI-enhanced art made me uneasy: Was this the beginning of art’s dehumanization? Would machines replace the soul of creation with soulless algorithms?

But Smart Cities doesn’t erase the human, it reframes it. It invites us to reconsider the role of technology not as a threat, but as a tool. The exhibit doesn’t glorify AI; it integrates it, challenges it and ultimately reclaims it for the artist.

Bartholomew Bland, Lehman College’s art director, empathized with this tension. “Smart Cities encompasses the urban experience and the technology that is taking over the art space,” Bland said. “AI poses a great challenge to artists of our time as they have to now struggle with how to respond to AI when it devalues their skills. It brings to question why would you need a person to create anything for you when all you need is a good enough prompt to generate anything you want.”

One particularly provocative piece highlighted this conflict through the repurposing of photographs taken in the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster. “These images,” Bland explained, “have since been scrubbed and reconfigured by AI to generate maps for video games and other digital media. When AI reuses such emotionally and historically charged material, does it diminish the lived experience it was meant to preserve?” Bland’s commentary invites reflection on how AI’s capacity to remix existing works may challenge not only artistic integrity but also the ethical boundaries of intellectual property.

Curator Naivy Perez offered a more tempered perspective. “There’s a lot of spectacle around AI,” she said, “but at the end of the day, it is just a tool.” For Perez, technology is no different than oil paint or charcoal — it’s a medium, not a menace. “I’d love to see more shows like Smart Cities in contemporary spaces,” she added, “but without the sensationalism. I want it to be more meaningful and less like a gimmick.”

That openness to innovation was especially evident in younger viewers like Lismar, a Lehman student who embraced the exhibit’s fusion of art and technology. “I felt that the show was really interesting. It defied my expectations on what an art show would be,” she said. “It was a lot more interactive than I was expecting and I learned a lot about architecture and the new age of technical art.” For Lismar, Smart Cities wasn’t a threat to traditional art; it was a gateway to deeper engagement that made her want “to see more digital shows in contemporary museums. These kinds of shows have so many more elements to them and give artists more tools to work with than traditional still mediums.”

Fellow attendee Saralinda Lichtblau approached the exhibit with curiosity and reflection. “With AI we have to learn how to identify it so that we can learn from it and so that it can learn from us,” she explained. “Artists must maintain their skills and craft so that they can better integrate AI in their creative process and enhance their creative visions.”

Camille Eskell, art curator, raised critical questions about the nature of AI and art. “I find AI art as a double-edged sword,” she said. “It can be so realistic that it is difficult to tell what is real and what is fake, but as a tool it can be a great way for artists to enhance their vision. But it can never replace the heart and soul of an actual human artist. It can be mesmerizing, but it is almost like entertainment and begs the question of is it art or is it entertainment? Is the future of art to be both art and entertainment?”

Smart Cities doesn’t offer easy answers. It neither pretends AI is harmless nor demonizes it. Instead, it presents a landscape in flux, one where artists must adapt, evolve and assert their humanity in the face of technological transformation

What struck me most was how the exhibit reframed my own skepticism. I entered fearing that AI would strip art of its soul. I left believing that, in the right hands, it could amplify it. Anyone can type a prompt, but only an artist can push the boundaries of creation. Smart Cities proves that when AI is wielded as a medium, not an entity, it can become a canvas for human ingenuity.

“AI…can never replace the heart and soul of an actual human artist.” - CAMILLE ESKELL, ART CURATOR