Kunstværdi uden kunstner?

Abstract

The author examines how the emergence of AI-generated art challenges and necessitates a re-evaluation of the concept of artistic value. Using the Danish art historian Julius Lange’s nineteenth-century conception of artistic value as something inherent and rooted in human intention as a point of departure, the article interrogates whether this concept remains applicable when works are created by algorithms devoid of human intent. The analysis traces historical continuity from the theoretical debates of the 1990s concerning artistic value to contemporary discussions, particularly through Jo Lawson-Tancred’s book on AI and the art market. Lawson-Tancred analyzes the impact of AI on authentication, valuation, and market dynamics, and problematizes AI’s dual role as both a tool and an autonomous creative agent. She underscores challenges related to transparency, power relations, and legal uncertainty regarding copyright in the context of AI-generated art. The article concludes that artistic value today must be understood as a dynamic and negotiated concept, continually shaped by technological, cultural, institutional, and legal factors. The advent of AI fundamentally challenges traditional concepts of artistic intention and authenticity, imposing new demands on how art is understood and evaluated in the digital age and within the art market.