Tate Britain project uses AI to pair contemporary photos with paintings

Seated against a deep red backdrop, gazing intently at hand-held mirrors, two eunuchs in sparkling saris inspect their appearance before Raksha Bandhan celebrations in the red light district of Mumbai. The photograph from the Reuters news agency is an arresting contemporary scene, but a new Tate Britain project is aiming to inspire deeper reflections with images from its own collection of paintings. Launching on Friday, Recognition is the winner of 2016's IK prize – an annual award, this year supported by Microsoft, for a project that embraces digital technology to explore and showcase Tate's collection of British art. This year, the challenge was to do it with artificial intelligence. The team behind the winning project, from the Italy-based communication research centre Fabrica, say their inspiration came from an intriguing conundrum: how can you apply rational thinking to a subject like art? Recognition matches stunning photographs from the 24/7 news cycle with centuries-old artworks, and presents them online.