Little Martians: From Desert Clay to Generative Agents

Gene Kogan, Vanessa Rosa

Track: Artwork

Keywords: Generative AI, worldbuilding, ceramics

TL;DR: Little Martians is a transmedia experiment in which physical ceramic sculptures are turned into synthetic artists who generate a short film every day.

Abstract: Little Martians is a transmedia experiment in which physical ceramic sculptures are turned into synthetic artists. Each Martian begins as a clay head, is glazed and fired in a kiln, photographed, and distilled into a LoRA (Low-Rank Adaptation) that conditions generative AI systems, preserving the character’s appearance and morphology. A novel orchestration pipeline prompts an agent based on the character’s personality and backstory to write and produce a short film, and automatically publish it online. The eponymous character Verdelis is currently releasing one such film per day at https://verdelis.world. We present the full materials-to-media workflow and observations from sustained daily operation.

Submission Number: 120