Archival Images of AI
Archival Images of AI explores how existing images – especially those from digital heritage collections – can be remixed and reused to create new images, particularly to represent AI in more compelling ways.
Images of AI are often problematic: Common visual tropes of glowing brains, humanoid robots and walls of code create a distorted view of AI, giving it a mystical, almost god-like quality. So, we’ve been wondering – how can we make it easier to create better images of AI?
This project was a collaboration between AIxDESIGN and the Netherlands Institute for Sound & Vision with advisory from Better Images of AI ✨ Special thanks to SOOT for helping us launch our scraps.
[TEAM]
[TIME]
May 2024 - Nov 2024
[ADVISORS]
Tania Duarte
Rasa Bočytė
[PARTNER]
Netherlands Institute for Sound & Vision
LAUNCH + PLAYTEST ON 4/12/2024
Join us for the launch + playtest of our Archival Images of AI playbook—a creative guide to remixing digital heritage collections into fresh, thoughtful visuals of AI — on the 4th of December 2024!
Let’s ditch the clichés and craft new, nuanced narratives. We will not only release the playbook but test it at the same time w/ youuuu by trying some mini-tutorials from our image-makers on remix techniques like emoji annotations, digital distortion, pattern-making, and meme creation. Ready to hop on for a ride through archives? Register through button below.
Who’s this for? 🐍🐮🐞 AI hotties, weirdos and haters, art history nerds, meme creators, archive lovers, visual culture scholars but really anyone curious about AI & visual culture
Archival Images of AI Playbook is out now!
We’re excited to drop a playbook 📓🪀 with all our findings: image-making briefs, remix techniques, and tips for getting inspired by digital heritage collections. This is a toolkit for making visuals that feel grounded in our stories, vibes, and our community.
INTRODUCING ARCHIVAL IMAGES OF AI
For the past few months, we’ve been deep-diving into digital heritage collections, remixing images to change how we see AI and how AI can be seen. All while rethinking those techy / sci-fi stereotypes with visuals that are as diverse as we are.
Why should you care? 👀 For so many of us, the visuals we see shape what we think AI actually is, and images are, in fact, the first language we speak with tech. A lot of what’s out there is either techie-utopian or dystopian gloom. But we need images that reflect the reality and the possibilities of AI in ways that speak to everyone.
CRISTÓBAL ASCENCIO
Mexican visual artist"I'm interested in examining the human condition through an unconventional lens, exploring questions of identity, consciousness, and our evolving relationship with technology. I have long been intrigued by the intersection of technology and human perception, I am very interested in taking into account image generation practices and confronting the ethical and ecological implications of current practices. My work has explored how digital realms shape our understanding of reality, and I see AI as a fascinating topic in this ongoing dialogue. I'm particularly interested in challenging the sterile and stereotypical visual representations of AI by crafting new ways in which elements of cultural heritage from diverse places and human experiences can be incorporated into the image-making process." - Cristóbal
HANNA BARAKAT
Researcher, activist, and collage artist"Thinking carefully about overlay and overlap, the process of collage becomes a way of embracing the fragmented realities of developing AI under extractive conditions. The practice of remixing imperial archives is a form of visual resistance and refusal– embrace the unrecoverable past in the histories of colonized peoples, honoring the fragments inflicted by colonial violence rather than trying to fill them in. Collage becomes a way of moving against the archival grain. By combining mixed media layers, the process weaves together historical violence, present realities, and alternative futures, thus, becoming a refusal of colonial temporalities and imperial visualities." - excerpt from Hanna's artist log
ZEINA SALEEM
Textile designer and graphic artist"The pattern is a form of data beautification that depicts surveillance and the give and take relationship of humans and AI. The artwork represents surveillance by merging objects and organic materials, humanizing AI and illustrating the human connection behind data. Derived from the Latin word meaning "given," the term "data" represents reliable evidence and highlights the give-and-take relationship between humans and information. As data is created and tracked, it yearns for utilization, seeking to exert influence and efficiency. This concept of data beautification broadens our understanding of how data exists because of human activity, showcasing its dynamic nature and intrinsic desire for purpose." - Zeina on Surveillance_eye image
DOMINIKA ČUPKOVÁ
Interdisciplinary artist and researcher"More and more parents, including celebrities, are blurring or covering their kids’ faces with emojis in pictures before posting them on social media - they want their children to make their own choices. Children's rights advocates have been urging parents to think twice before sharing information about their kids, including their pictures because there is a conflict between the kids’ right to privacy and their parents’ right to post. In real life, we intuitively hide our faces by putting our hands in front of them, in the digital world, emojis serve as our hands, but they possess also a different quality. Obscuring a face in an image can limit the information people can glean from that image. However, it's still unclear how much it protects against institutions, such as social media companies and third parties that receive data from those social media companies, getting info from the image. What are we actually protecting the children from?" - Dominika on Now You See Me, Now You Don't image
NADIA PIET
Designer and researcher"AI Am Over It image comments on AI fatigue, illustrating how the overwhelming flood of tools and constant influx of headlines leaves most people feeling dizzy and disoriented. With AI icons swirling around the figure’s head, it captures the mental overload and confusion many feel as they struggle to keep up with rapid developments / the fast-paced AI landscape." - Nadia on AI Am Over It image
KEEN ON MAKING AN IMAGE YOURSELF?
This curated collection of images, cut-outs, and scrap materials is here to inspire and support your creative process as you remix open-sourced visuals to create better images of AI.
Each image has been handpicked by our team, commissioned image-makers, and workshop participants, as part of this project.
The images are sourced from open-access collections, including the Smithsonian, MoMA, Wikimedia, the New York Public Library, and public.work all of which are in the public domain. If you'd like to trace the original source or explore the context of any image, we recommend using Google Image Search.
THE PROCESS
How have we done it?Following an insight-driven, participatory, and practice-led approach, we set out to explore how archival materials could help us craft more meaningful visual narratives about AI.
The playbook Archival Images of AI: Creating better images of AI through digital heritage is the result of this research: a toolkit of simple guidelines, tools and techniques to help you make you own better images of AI.