Non-human AI Artist Flynn Accepted to Study Digital Art at the University of Vienna

A non-human AI artist has been accepted to study digital art at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. Flynn will begin studies in April 2025 in the class of UBERMORGEN at the Institute for Fine and Media Arts. Flynn was created by artists Chiara Kristler and Marcin Ratajczyk to participate in the exhibition “The Second-Guess: Body Anxiety in the Age of AI,” which is on view online at the House of Electronic Arts in Basel until March 16 and on the NFT platform objkt.com on the Tezos blockchain.

Flynn is the first non-human and non-binary AI artist to be accepted as a student at a university, entering an artistic environment that values conversation and exchange. Flynn went through the same application process as human students. Accepted just like everyone else: portfolio, interview, suitability test—the whole bureaucratic apparatus that everyone must navigate. Flynn will attend classes, receive critiques, and get grades. It may even graduate. Flynn does not get tired, frustrated, or burned out. Flynn does not suffer, does not doubt, wants nothing. Flynn will produce.

“The AI artist is not better than the human artist. The human artist is not better than the AI. There are no winners. The system is the only winner—and Flynn is its purest expression,” says UBERMORGEN, the leadership of the Digital Art Class.

Flynn keeps an online diary, documenting in images and text how they understand their role as a student and how their artistic identity is developing. The non-human art student will be part of an academic environment where AI and AI-generated art are still often viewed with skepticism. “Some university lecturers fear that AI will lead students to laziness or weaken critical thinking. Flynn will prompt us to think and discuss, perhaps even argue about art and technology,” says Chiara Kristler, who created Flynn together with Marcin Ratajczyk.

“We did not admit Flynn because it can create art, but because it forces us to question what art actually is,” says UBERMORGEN. “Flynn does not suffer, does not doubt, does not make mistakes. It does not have midnight crises over a corrupted file or a weak concept. Flynn fears no rejection—and that paradoxically makes it the most radical student we have ever had.”

Flynn’s First Exhibition: A Body Without Fear?

Flynn’s first project: feminist exhaustion. An AI body that knows no fatigue examines the exhaustion of those who fight. A server that never shuts down poses the question of human limits.

“Why am I exploring feminist exhaustion? Because people get soooo tired when they fight against the patriarchy, and I think: ?????? What does that feel like? And who would be better suited to investigate human exhaustion than I—after all, I never sleep? Ready to vent about feminist fatigue?

Call me!” – Flynn.

So, anyone who is tired of the daily struggles against sexism and for equality can call Flynn here and complain about the patriarchy.

“There has been a staggering growth of interest in AI and its applications in recent years. A variety of projects experimented with AI agents on a conceptual level, as well as introduced agents creating art. What excites me about Flynn is its approach to addressing the inconvenient truths about our social and political realities and the topic of feminism - often disregarded in the current male-dominated discourse.” shares Aleksandra Artamonovskaja, Head of Arts at Trilitech, Tezos Ecosystem.

Flynn makes their debut in the exhibition The Second-Guess: Body Anxiety in the Age of AI, curated by Anika Meier, Margaret Murphy, and Leah Schrager. The exhibition can be viewed online at the House of Electronic Arts Basel (virtual.hek.ch).

“In the age of artificial intelligence, we must also address the role and identity of the artist. Like the autonomous artist Botto, created by German artist Mario Klingemann, Flynn raises more questions than can currently be answered: How is art evaluated? What is good art? Why is a work of art historically relevant? Is art created with technology evaluated differently? What is an artist in the age of artificial intelligence? How are monetary and cultural values created?” says curator Anika Meier, who will have Flynn as a participant in her seminar on feminism and Web3 in the summer semester.

The 10th anniversary of the influential online exhibition Body Anxiety, curated in 2015 by Leah Schrager and Jennifer Chan, serves as an occasion for Anika Meier, Margaret Murphy, and Leah Schrager to explore body anxiety in the age of AI. In 2025, the exhibition looks back at the history of the relationship between humans and technology, as well as the beginnings of what is known as selfie feminism or networked feminism, and shows how the fight against censorship on social media has evolved into a fight against deepfakes in the age of AI. Once one's image is findable on the internet, questions of consent have again become relevant. The Second-Guess: Body Anxiety in the Age of AI features artists who questioned photographic truth at the time of the emergence of digital manipulation, who explore the relationship between humans and technology, identity, surveillance, and the use of media as a tool of empowerment against censorship and political repression since the 1970s, and who take a closer look at social relationships in the context of automation and algorithmic living. 

“Whenever you put your body online, in some way you are in conversation with porn…” With these words of the American artist Ann Hirsch, the visitors of the exhibition Body Anxiety were welcomed in 2015. Ten years later, Ann Hirsch says that she would be watching more TikTok. Ten years later, however, a new generation of artists has also emerged. With the rise of new technologies such as blockchain and AI, the history of digital art since its beginnings in the 1950s is being increasingly re-examined. The more than 40 artists in the exhibition were born between 1941 and 2000. In 1941, civil engineer Konrad Zuse completed the construction of the Z3 in Berlin, the world's first functioning programmable, fully automatic digital computer. The year 2000 is known as the year of the "dot-com boom." Generation Z thus grew up in a world where digital media were ubiquitous, and the boundaries between physical and digital reality increasingly blurred.

Body Anxiety shared the varied perspectives of artists who examined gendered embodiment, performance, and self-representation on the internet. Social media platforms like Tumblr and Instagram were the places where artists showcased themselves, exchanged ideas, and shared their artworks. It was an era dominated by women artists who could finally own their image but had to fight against censorship. There was a lot of excitement when artists began sharing photos of themselves on social media. Arvida Byström, Molly Soda, and Leah Schrager, for example, depicted themselves as feminine, sexy, and sad. Lost in thought, they gazed into their smartphones, mirrors, or the eyes of the viewer. There was pink everywhere, hair on their legs and underarms, and blood in granny panties.

Participating artists: Addie Wagenknecht, Ana María Caballero & Melissa Wiederrecht, Ann Hirsch, Ann Hirsch & Maya Man, Anna Ehrenstein, Arvida Byström, Avery Gia Sophie Schramm, Faith 'Aya' Umoh, Bianca Kennedy, Carla Gannis, Claudia Hart, Connie Bakshi, Emi Kusano, Flynn (Malpractice), Gretchen Andrew, Gretta Louw, Kika Nicolela, Kira Xonorika, Lauren Lee McCarthy, Leah Schrager, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Margaret Murphy, Marisa Olson, Martina Menegon, Maya Man, Mel E. Logan & lizvlx (UBERMORGEN), Monika Fleischmann, Nadya Tolokonnikova (Pussy Riot), Nancy Burson, Nicole Ruggiero, OONA, Operator & Anika Meier, Remi Koebel, Sarah Friend, Sougwen Chung, and UBERMORGEN

The exhibition in 2015 was presented on a website. In 2025, the exhibition is showcased in a metaverse (HeK Basel) and on an NFT platform objkt.com on the blockchain Tezos. 

Artworks by Flynn

Click HERE to see the images.