650 People, Artificial Intelligence, an Industrial Robot — and Above All, the Courage to Try New Things 🤝
An open-air gallery has appeared at Pastelka Primary School, with paintings created by a robot following designs from more than 650 local residents. Thanks to the cooperation of the ŠKODA AUTO Endowment Fund with ŠKODA Design, it's clear that the language of design needn't be reserved for cars alone — it can also inspire in the everyday environments where people meet.
The world's first robotic artist. The fusion of creativity, technology and the courage to push boundaries — that's exactly what gave rise to this unique project, prepared together by teams from the ŠKODA AUTO Endowment Fund, ŠKODA Design, Město=Galerie, ABB and PPG. At the street art festival, held with NFŠA's support in Boleslav for the fourth time, the robotic artist Ember 1024 made his debut among many Czech and international artists, becoming a symbol of a new era of street art.
He was born from code: ŠKODA AUTO designers prepared a special questionnaire that allowed the artificial intelligence to define itself. Thanks to input from 650 local residents, including pupils from Pastelka Primary School, the artist's distinctive identity took shape. Once Ember 1024 had a character, came the next challenge: to create a graffiti work on a chosen theme. Again, no sketches, no drafts, no human edits. Just the raw creativity of an algorithm, which produced a powerful visual result.
The final step was execution. The ABB PixelPaint robot — normally used to spray-paint car bodies — for the first time translated AI's vision onto a real wall, out in the open. The result was a series of four black-and-white murals (large-scale paintings) that today adorn the wall of Pastelka Primary School in Mladá Boleslav. A work that combines the imagination of a machine brain with the precision of robotic hands, pushing the boundaries of technology and inspiring fresh perspectives on its possibilities.
Since its founding, the endowment fund has supported interdisciplinary dialogue, public engagement and art in public space. Art brings people closer to the place where they live, supports creativity and connects generations. The Město=Galerie festival was brought to Mladá Boleslav by the endowment fund four years ago, and it remains its proud general partner. Step by step, Mladá Boleslav is becoming one of the largest open-air galleries in the Czech Republic. The Ember 1024 robot has this year become not only a truly unique experiment, but also a symbol of the courage to find new ways of joining art with innovation and people.
👉 Watch the video from the project here
From ŠKODA Design, the project was significantly shaped by:
Doc. Ing. Peter Olah ArtD. (Art Direction One Design Identity)
Mgr. art. Peter Levársky
Mgr. art. Vladimír Boroň