Artificial intelligence (AI) in art and visual culture

About the project

This research project focuses on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in art and visual culture, theorizing the rise of generative AI tools, such as DALL-E, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion since 2022. In particular, the project investigates visual generative AI in the context of the history and theory of photography. From manual retouching and photomontage to Photoshop and Instagram filters, photographic manipulation has always been part of the practice of photography. Despite this, photographs continue to be interpreted as documentary evidence or as reliable representations of nature. Recent advances in visual generative AI have made it possible to create artificial “photographs” of nonexistent people, places, and things. Given this, AI image generation could be characterized as an extreme form of photographic manipulation. Several articles on this topic and a monograph are forthcoming.