Walker Art Center and Artist Olalekan Jeyifous Rebut AI 'Slop' Claims
Visitors misidentified Olalekan Jeyifous's Walker Art Center solo as AI-generated, prompting the artist and museum to clarify his iterative digital process.
The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis is pushing back against visitor claims that a new exhibition by artist Olalekan Jeyifous was made with generative AI. The show, 'Hydricosmic Litanies,' is Jeyifous's first museum solo and includes video, sculpture, and soundscapes exploring African diasporic themes related to the Mississippi River.
A Reddit user posted an 'AI slop alert' on August 15, expressing disappointment and alleging that the museum did not disclose AI use. The visitor also claimed a staff member agreed AI was used, though the museum declined to comment on that exchange.
Jeyifous, an architect and designer, told MPR News that he has faced questions about his methods for over two decades, and that as AI imagery became common, he anticipated his work might be misread. He stated that simply prompting images is inconsistent with his practice.
The Walker's chief curator Henriette Huldisch acknowledged that the artist uses software with embedded AI, but emphasized the work is created through iterative processes, not simple prompts. The museum plans to add clarifying text to the exhibition's wall labels.
