By Phoebe Wilson, Second Year, English
This article is satire. It is intended for entertainment purposes only, and any resemblance to factual events is purely coincidental.
Bristol students and Clifton residents were shocked this week, when a giant AI mural was unveiled on the side of the university’s most ornate concrete box, the Richmond Building. The university stated at it's opening, that the mural aims to ‘highlight all that Bristol has to offer, from academics to social life.’ Following the removal of Bedminster's AI mural, the student and staff population are intrigued to why the university has made this decision. Is it a project powered by the Isambard-AI computer?
Some say this fails to quite explain the starring role of a large Jägerbomb with huge cartoon eyes and climbing shoes swinging across the centre of the picture, using wired headphones as a belay rope to traverse the Wills Memorial Building. The shot’s counterpart in Tom’s Trunks and a beret sits smoking out of a sash window, though the window does worryingly appear to rip right through the character’s body and three legs.
When questioned, passing students were puzzled, some saying the corner depicting blooming mould gives the mural a real homely and relatable feel, whilst others remained disturbed by the head of a metal-alloyed pig being pieced by a spire of the forementioned Wills Building, which has been given a clock face along with some sort of undiscovered ancient numbering system.
Whilst it may seem that such a vibrant mural would add great warmth to such a dull and lifeless building, many say this AI mural actually adds to the brutalist and harsh nature of the place, one student saying ‛I could live with it being just a boring building, now my eyes get assaulted with AI freshers with eleven fingers every morning. It’s torture!’ It’s clear the student support hotline will have an influx in Richmond-related distress over the coming days.
Beth Robinson
The aesthetics of the mural are highly contentious, especially given Clifton is a wealthy residential area of Bristol. The brash colours and patterns do clash somewhat with the pretty pastels of the hillside terraces, and whilst the mural tries to incorporate local labels and place names, the AI falters and produces an alien and scrambled alternative to a Clifton Village sign.
Still yet, the mural remains to have some support, with a few residents enjoying the new addition to their quaint suburb. One older gentleman told the paper that he hopes one day AI murals of himself with different coloured hairstyles or his cat turning into a kiwi could be put up on other university buildings. The university is yet to comment.
Featured Image: Epigram / Sophie Maclaren
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