An unsolicited digital print hung undetected for several hours on the walls of the National Museum Cardiff in Wales after it was installed by a conceptual artist in the museum’s contemporary art wing. Later revealed to be AI-generated, Elias Marrow’s “Empty Plate” (2024) bamboozled museum visitors and staff alike, as no one could explain its presence.
The print emulates an oil portrait of a nondescript young boy in a school uniform, holding a bare plate on his lap with a dour expression. Per the artist’s website, “It is unclear whether [the boy] waits to be fed, punished, or simply forgotten.” While the subject appears to have the correct number of fingers, other aspects of the painting, including the jumbled alphabet on his uniform logo and the overall yellowish tinge to the work, are undeniable evidence of generative AI — though Marrow’s accompanying wall text does not mention it.
In an email to Hyperallergic, Marrow, whose email signature identifies him as “Conceptual Artist. Cultural Surgeon,” said he conceived the premise last year when he made some sketches related to rising hunger and poverty in the United Kingdom and Wales, noting that they’re “subjects close to my heart.” A 2024 report titled Empty Plates and Cold Homes found that from a pool of over 2,000 participants in the United Kingdom, a quarter said that they have struggled to put food on the table for their children at some point in the last year.
The unauthorized display of “Empty Plate” at the National Museum Cardiff
With regards to incorporating AI, the artist explained to the BBC that he believes it is “here to stay,” and that “gatekeep[ing] its capability would be against the beliefs I hold dear about art.”
The BBC reported that hundreds of visitors saw the work until a museum employee who was asked about it struggled to provide an answer. This is only a recent installment in Marrow’s continued interventions in museum galleries involving unauthorized artwork additions that probe “how value is created, perceived, and sold,” with earlier iterations including a spray-painted shoe mounted on a cylinder at the Tate in London, and a wall text of an artwork that may or may not have been presented at the Bristol Museum.
The museum did not immediately respond to Hyperallergic‘s inquiry, but told multiple media outlets that the work was taken down after it was flagged. Marrow confirmed that he hasn’t been contacted by the museum and doesn’t anticipate getting the work back.
While “Empty Plate” has been gifted to the National Museum Cardiff per Marrow’s statement, he told the institution that he plans to donate one of the original sketches behind the work to a South Wales food bank, saying, “It may not hold much value, but it feels like the right resting place.”
Hopefully, he’ll give this recipient a heads-up about his gift, though unannounced food donations might be more appreciated in the grand scheme of things.
