Corina Lipavsky Interview: Building Speculative Ecosystems with AI and Language

Could you describe your artistic practice in your own words? What is it that makes a “Corina Lipavsky” work of art?

I work with technology, but my work is not about technology. Throughout my practice, from digital media and creative coding to my recent explorations with AI, the constant has always been language. My works begin with words. In coding, that language was mathematical; today it is natural language, but the underlying idea remains the same: language has the power to generate realities.

I'm interested in speculative worlds where biology, technology, and imagination intersect. AI became compelling to me not simply because it is a new tool but because it allows language itself to become a creative medium. Coming from film and video, where image-making often required large crews and significant resources, the possibility of creating complex visual worlds from words still feels profoundly poetic.

What has been your path leading to the use of AI?

My path toward AI has been connected to a long-standing interest in the relationship between language, imagination, and the creation of realities. There is also a philosophical dimension to it that resonates with ideas found in Eastern traditions, particularly the notion that thoughts and words have the power to shape our perception of the world.

Working with generative systems made this idea tangible. I began exploring text-to-image systems, then moved into text-to-video, and more recently into text-to-3D. This transition was partly influenced by a metaverse residency I participated in, where I started thinking more deeply about virtual environments and the concept of “worlding”: the creation of possible spaces, realities, and ecosystems.

The 3D works I am currently developing continue this exploration. They allow me to move beyond individual images and think about immersive environments and speculative ecosystems. The idea of creating worlds is central to my practice, not only as a technological possibility but as a conceptual and poetic gesture.

There definitely is something very divine about literally speaking something into existence like that.

For me, one of the most fascinating aspects of this process is that it connects with ideas that are much older than technology itself. Many philosophical and spiritual traditions have explored the relationship between thought, language, and the creation of reality. In traditions such as Buddhism and Hinduism, there is a deep understanding of consciousness as something that shapes our experience of the world.

What fascinates me is the apparent contradiction: I am deeply connected to technology and to the rational, scientific traditions that have shaped Western thought, but through technology I often arrive at questions that feel much older and more fundamental. The machine becomes a way of exploring ideas that go beyond the machine itself.

Artists oftentimes have a very interesting way of speaking about their relationship with AI: tool, co-creator... Could you tell me a little bit more about how you understand your relationship with AI?

I think of AI as part of an ecosystem of creative processes. I would not describe it as an autonomous creator, but I also don't see it as merely a passive tool. It is a system that I enter into dialogue with: I provide an intention, a question, or a direction, and it responds with possibilities that I then interpret, select, and transform.

One of the most interesting aspects of working with generative systems is the balance between control and unpredictability. Sometimes the results contain unexpected elements that I could not have imagined, and those moments of surprise can become an important part of the creative process.

For me, the artwork does not emerge from the machine alone. It comes from a combination of conceptual research, intuition, experimentation, and the many decisions involved in shaping the final piece. AI is one element within a much larger network of tools and processes.

My interest in these technologies is also connected to a broader curiosity about emerging systems. For example, I entered the NFTs space not simply because I was interested in the medium itself but because I wanted to understand a technology that seemed to be pointing toward possible changes in how we think about value, ownership, and exchange. I approached AI in a similar way: as a major cultural shift that I wanted to understand from within.

You use Midjourney as your main AI tool. Why this one in particular? Have you tried others?

I have experimented with different generative platforms, but Midjourney was the one that initially gave me the visual language I was looking for. What interested me was not only the quality of the images but also the particular character and ambiguity of the results.

Coming from a background in film, video, and advertising, I have always been aware of the power of highly polished images. I am not interested in creating images that are simply perfect or “more real than reality.” I am much more attracted to images that contain traces of imperfection, something unexpected, something slightly strange or unresolved. I find beauty in the fragment, the error, the ambiguity, and the moments where an image feels as if it exists between different states.

We have different series of yours in our catalog, yet even when you explore very different themes, we recognize your own style. How do you achieve that?

I tend to work mainly with adjectives because they allow me to define atmosphere, materiality, texture, and emotional qualities. The process is less about giving instructions and more about constructing a space for the image to emerge.

Once I find an image that resonates with the ideas I am exploring, it becomes a starting point for further development. I use it as a reference and continue refining, transforming, and expanding that visual language. Over time, this creates a continuity between different works and series.

Ultimately, I think the “distinctive” quality comes not from a specific technology or aesthetic formula, but from a way of looking at the world: my interests in hybrid forms, speculative ecologies, transformation, and the relationships between organic and artificial systems. The tools change, but the questions remain.

These technologies are evolving at a dizzying pace. How do you see your process evolving in the years to come?

To be honest, it is difficult to predict where these technologies will take us, and perhaps that uncertainty is precisely what makes them fascinating. I am interested in the space between speculation and reality, the moment when ideas that once belonged to science fiction begin to become possible.

Thinkers such as James Lovelock, with his Gaia theory, and Donna Haraway, with her ideas around cyborgs and hybrid identities; female science-fiction writers like Octavia Butler and Ursula K. Le Guin and ancestral knowledge traditions have deeply influenced the way I think about our future. What that future will look like is impossible to know, but imagining it is an essential part of navigating it.

This is also why I am drawn to science fiction, not as an escape from reality, but as a tool for thinking about possible futures. Speculation allows us to question the categories we take for granted and to imagine different forms of coexistence.

When someone encounters your work, is there a wanted effect, reaction, idea, or emotion? What do you hope that people think or feel?

I hope my work invites people to inhabit the space of the “what if.” I want to encourage a sense of possibility: what if the boundaries we take for granted are not fixed? What if we could imagine different relationships between species, technologies, and forms of intelligence? What if we moved beyond binary ways of thinking?

I believe imagination is essential, especially in a moment when we are facing ecological, political, and technological challenges that often feel overwhelming. Speculation is not an escape from reality; it is a way of expanding our capacity to envision other possibilities.

Judith Butler has spoken about the importance of “unlikely alliances,” the idea that, in complex and uncertain times, transformation often emerges through unexpected connections between different communities, perspectives, and forms of knowledge. I find this idea deeply resonant with my own practice, where I explore hybrids, collaborations, and relationships that challenge traditional categories.

Ultimately, I hope my work creates a space where viewers can question the limits of what they consider possible. Perhaps imagining other worlds is the first step toward creating them.