site.bta"Beware of AI," Bosnian Artist Rikardo Druskic Tells Mankind by Mundus Novus Exhibition

He hails from Sarajevo and cuts across the spectrum of visual art, doing painting, street art, digital art and illustrations. His works leave his native Bosnia and Herzegovina and travel across the world, from Brussels to New York and from Berlin to Dubai. His name is Rikardo Druskic.

His series of pictures titled Mundus Novus: The New World is on display at Sofia’s Mission Gallery between April 4 and 26. It is “an artistic odyssey that delves into the intricate relationship between humanity and artificial intelligence,” the event’s co-organizers (the Foreign Ministry's State Institute for Culture and the Gallery) said in a press release. "Druskic reimagines iconic paintings, substituting human figures with robots, to ignite dialogues about the complexities and risks associated with AI. This series serves as a poignant reminder for society to contemplate the profound implications of technological advancements on our collective future and the essence of human existence."

Mundus Novus: The New World invites viewers to a speculative journey into a future where humans and intelligent machines coexist. Druskic challenges the audience to reconsider their understanding of sentience, culture, and identity in an increasingly technologically driven world.

Interviewed by BTA, Druskic described his Mundus Novus cycle as "a warning to mankind about [the risks] of artificial intelligence", adding that the new world he imagines is fraught with polarizations.

"I have depicted one of these polarizations in this project. There, the robots have taken over the world and have started to change human memory and culture. This is part of the warning," the artist specified.

On the other hand, he sees the onslaught of technologies as utopian to a certain extent, as they make people’s life easier and develop at an amazing pace.

"AI may, therefore, make the world more humane, i.e. provide it with every possibility to change in this direction, but I believe that darkness is inherent to human existence, as discussed by Dostoyevsky, Nietzsche and other existentialists. Humans will always strive for chaos, no matter what situation they find themselves in," Druskic explained.  

If able to do a mural in Sofia, the Bosnian artist would put a technological element in it.

"The graffito in Sofia would combine traditional Bulgarian motifs with my modernist approach, i.e. a motif involving robots. Let’s do one," Druskic offers. 

One of his works is a mural in Brussels that was unveiled in 2019 by the then EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini. In 2022, Bosnia and Herzegovina became an EU candidate country, and last year the European leaders approved the launch of accession negotiations. The Bosnian artist, though, is not optimistic that his country will join the EU any time soon. He explains why.

"There are two tendencies in my country: civic and nationalist. I belong to the former, and I would like to see my country as part of the EU. In my opinion, this is the right way forward. The road of progress. To my regret, many people oppose this. Quite a few politicians persistently try to destabilize our State, probably biding their time to wreck it. As to EU entry, I don’t think it will happen soon," Druskic said.     

The way in which Bosnia and Herzegovina is structured politically represents one of the most complicated systems in the world. The Dayton Peace Agreement, which put an end to the inter-ethnic war in Bosnia in 1995, divided the country into two semi-autonomous entities: Republika Srpska, with a predominantly Bosnian Serb population, and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, peopled mainly by Bosnian Muslims and Croats. Each entity has a government, parliament and police of its own, but the two have common institutions at the state level, including a judicial system, army, security services and tax administration.

Among other problems, the country is currently plagued by massive emigration. The young Bosnian artist, however, has found his happiness in Sarajevo and does not plan to move out of the Bosnian capital.

"Over the last ten years, I did a lot of in-depth self-exploration, learning about myself through the thoughts of great people. Apart from everything else, I realized that happiness is an inner quality and that all answers that matter to us are hidden inside us. Naturally, to deal with the issue of happiness one must be well provided for, and, luckily, the sales of my works take care of me in this respect. I have thus found my happiness. The things that gratify me: nature, art, the people I love - I have found them all in Sarajevo. But then, there is something heroic in staying here and struggling with the darkness around. I was raised by heroes whom I have always admired. It is quite natural that I should follow in their footsteps," the young artist commented.

He told BTA that in September he won a three-month creative residence in Manchester, New Hampshire. There, he will work on his XANTEA 2502 FUSION project. Once the three months are over, he will be able to present his work to the American public: a multi-disciplinary exhibition mixing art with technology. In Manchester, he will have a chance to get familiar with technological companies wishing to collaborate with artists. 

"This fulfils my boldest dreams about my pursuits and studies in recent years. This is a major step in my career, and I'm looking forward to it with a tinge of impatience and adrenalin," Druskic said.