GAN of Living Skies

2020 – ongoing
Machine-learning algorithm, single-board computer, webcam, keyboard, wood, cart

Aerial view of the artist activating the WaGAN cart outside Art Gallery of Regina.
The artist activating the WaGAN outside Art Gallery of Regina, seen from above. View From the Edge of the World (2023), curated by Sandee Moore.

Firmly established as a Canadian art genre, landscape painting has been used to idealize a view of the country as an empty, natural environment ripe for exploitation. GAN of Living Skies takes the latest resource-intensive technology of artificial intelligence and reimagines its application as a climate-conscious landscape painter. It uses a generative adversarial network (GAN) to create landscape imagery from its environment. The project includes a machine-learning model, an image database, and a customized computer integrated into a portable solar-power charging station called the WaGAN. While machine-learning is traditionally resource-intensive, GAN of Living Skies mitigates its impact by relying entirely on solar energy, emphasizing our shared need to explore new models for resource-intensive computing.

The work has been developed and activated through residencies and exhibitions at Art Gallery of Regina, the Klondike Institute of Art and Culture (Dawson City, YT), and Gibraltar Point Centre for the Arts in collaboration with OCAD University's Centre for Creative Climate Action (Toronto Island, ON). The cart has been re-engineered for each new context, with a slimmed-down portable version developed for the northern and island activations.

The artist operating a slimmed-down portable version of the WaGAN outdoors at the Klondike Institute of Art and Culture.
Operating the portable WaGAN at Klondike Institute of Art and Culture during the Yukon Riverside Arts Festival, Dawson City, 2025.
The artist operating a slimmed-down portable version of the WaGAN on the beach at Gibraltar Point.
Operating the portable WaGAN on the beach at Gibraltar Point Centre for the Arts, Toronto Island, 2025. Developed in collaboration with OCAD University's Centre for Creative Climate Action.

At Art Gallery of Regina's View From the Edge of the World (2023, curated by Sandee Moore), Bluemke demonstrated the WaGAN to the audience by guiding it through the fields surrounding the gallery.

The artist activating the WaGAN cart outside Art Gallery of Regina.
The artist activating the WaGAN outside Art Gallery of Regina.
The artist activating the WaGAN with audience participants outside Art Gallery of Regina.
The WaGAN activated with audience participants.
The WaGAN inside the gallery with its generative results projected on the wall behind it.
The WaGAN with its generative results projected behind it.
Wide installation view of the exhibition at Art Gallery of Regina.
Installation view, View From the Edge of the World, Art Gallery of Regina, 2023.
The WaGAN powered off, sitting in the gallery without solar input.
The WaGAN powered off in the gallery — without solar input, the work goes dark.