Tyupism
Tyupism is an art movement founded by artist Ivan Kirilenko (b. 1990). An image is built the way computer vision sees the world: objects are replaced with labeled rectangles — "tyups" — on a black canvas. The creative function is handed to the viewer: reading the composition of boxes, a person completes the picture, the story, the beauty, and the meaning inside their own head.
01 A game of riddles
The canvas is a puzzle; the viewer, having learned the rules, solves it — and at that moment turns from a consumer of images into their creator. Every viewer sees their own story on the same canvas, with a unique render in their own imagination.
Tyupism is open to everyone: to create a Tyupist work, it is enough to place a few rectangles on a black canvas, encode your own meaning — and let others discover theirs.
02 Why it exists
The movement emerged as a response to visual overload. The world is flooded with ready-made images, trends, AI slop, and imposed standards of beauty — we are used to choosing from what is offered rather than creating. Tyupism removes the imposed visual layer entirely and leaves space for creation.
It is also a statement about AI: neural networks have become the primary interpreter of reality, describing the world from a soup of data. Tyupism borrows the machine's way of seeing but returns interpretation to the human.
03 From the manifesto
I borrow the machine's way of seeing — and take interpretation away from it. On a canvas of tyups you do not see what I created. You see what is inside you.
Tyupism sets a frame — and that is its freedom. It is stupidly simple and complex at the same time. It was born from a joke and is not afraid to admit it: at its core are play, stupidity, and a little bit of a great artist.
You are the viewer. You are the artist. Begin.
04 How it began
Tyupism was born from a joke. One morning Kirilenko woke up with a thought: "What if I played the role of a great artist — someone like Malevich?" In his art group chat he saw a message: "I see everyone's busy with something, and I'm busy with tupizm" — a Russian word that roughly means "doing something stupid." Something clicked: tup → tip → Typ (German for "type") → tyup. Tyupism is what happens when we mindlessly stick labels on everything — exactly what computer vision does. The inner game grew and became a system.
Its extension is Metatyupism: where Tyupism labels the visible, Metatyupism encodes the invisible — emotions, states, and concepts — through glyphs and circular structures.