• Artist displays AI-generated painting without prior permission
• Hundreds of visitors notice work before museum removes it

Elias Marrow successfully hung an AI-generated painting on a gallery wall at the National Museum Cardiff before visitors noticed it and alerted staff.

The artwork, titled Empty Plate, depicts a young boy in a school uniform holding a plate and was displayed to hundreds of visitors before being removed.

One visitor asked a museum employee about the piece, only to be told that the staff member “had no idea about the artwork or when it arrived.”

A museum spokesperson said, “An item was placed on a gallery wall without permission. We were informed and removed the item immediately.”

Marrow explained that the piece was digitally created using artificial intelligence before being printed and displayed in the museum’s contemporary art section, noting that Empty Plate “represents Wales in 2025.”

He added that he was interested in “how public institutions decide what is worth exhibiting, and what happens when something outside that system appears within it.”

Marrow emphasized that using AI is part of the “natural evolution of artistic tools,” adding that he sketched the image by hand before employing AI.

The artist noted that visitor reactions were positive, with many taking photos of the painting, and denied that his action constituted vandalism, describing the work as “participation without permission, not causing harm.”

One visitor from Ireland initially thought the piece might be “performance art,” but quickly realized it was a “guerrilla piece.”

The visitor added that they wondered why a low-quality AI work was displayed without labeling, and when they asked museum staff, they were told no one knew about it.