My Brain on Pixel Space and Boring Rules

Sometimes my brain independently interviews itself on certain topics. This time, a background process researches what I think about photography as an artistic medium. I managed to grab it by the tail.

Will AI Kill Photography?

Do you think AI will, at some point, become better at taking pictures than humans, and photography will be dead?

I am not afraid of what will happen. Stronger, there will be a point in time when AI will be better at creating a particular kind of picture. But that is not as disastrous as photographers think it is.

  1. The current capabilities of AI are vastly overrated. AI is still an aggregation of what is out there. There is no invention, no novelty. Will there ever be surprising novelty? Maybe. But would you be interested in it? I doubt it. For advertising, as illustration, but as art, that surprises and moves. I doubt it.

But suppose AI becomes better than us at taking pictures:

  1. Keep making pictures anyway. People are still playing chess. It’s the process, dude. I guess each of us needs to consider why we are taking pictures in the first place. Do you really want to leave such an important activity to an AI?
  2. It is our challenge to find something that AI can not do better than we can. It is our challenge to find something no one can do better than you, in general, as makers. AI capabilities would be a fantastic challenge to human creativity. We should embrace that challenge rather than be afraid of it.

Will things change? Yes. But we should not react with the same Luddite arguments as photographers did when digital photography emerged.

david hockney - collage of cropped photos

On Cropping and Creative Freedom

Something different: Do you crop your pictures?

Uninteresting question, and you will see why. Yes. I crop whenever I want to remove things from the picture I don’t like. I am not religious about cropping. Or applying whatever modification to the picture, in fact. If someone can make a lovely image from a photo by cropping everything except a single pixel, I am totally ok with that. Or when someone glues 273 images together to create a great picture, it’s totally fine.

Really, I am fearful of orthodoxies. You must… use 28mm for real street, apply golden rules, only photography at dawn/sunset/hard light/…, shoot from the hip/viewfinder, use layers/deadpan/… in your pictures, never crop, never pose, … Screw all that. Wolfgang Tilmans blew up low-res images to great pictures. David Hockney cut and glued images to create fabulous artworks. Even Elliott Erwitt cropped the hell out of his photos.

I don’t want to limit my creativity by any such orthodoxy.

The Finite Space of All Images

My brain is researching the creative border. On that … Lately, I was also thinking about the limited pixel space we operate in. Say our images are 1000 by 1000 pixels, that is 1 million pixels, but the size does not really matter. It could be a million by a million, that is not the point. Each pixel in the one-million-pixel space can have 256 different color values (or 16000; again, the exact number does not matter). Then the total number of possible pictures is 256^1000000 (256 to the power of 1000000). That is a lot, but it is a finite number of pictures. Think about that.

These pictures include everything we can photograph around us, at any moment in time. Everything we see today, tomorrow, any picture we take fits in that space. And anything that happened in the past. A portrait of Napoleon, the building of the pyramids, a Neanderthal, a dinosaur, the Earth being hit by a giant meteor, everything.

I am only orthodox about trying not to be orthodox.

Lempert, engelenvleugels en absurdisme

November 2022. Ik bezoek Huis Marseille voor Jochen Lempert en Nu Xuan Hua. Lempert, bioloog, koel, zeer analytisch, Duits. Nu Xuan Hua juist heel warm, kleurrijk, aaf en toe absurdistisch.

foto van de nerf van een blad, foto Jochen Lempert
werk van Nu Xuan Hua

Huis Museum beschrijft het werk van Lempert als volgt:

De kunstenaar onderzoekt, verzamelt en categoriseert zijn onderwerpen als een wetenschapper, maar legt tegelijkertijd dieren, planten en micro-organismen vanuit een gelijkwaardig gezichtspunt vast. Zijn werk verkent de (soms verstoorde) relatie tussen natuur en cultuur en nodigt de toeschouwer uit om op zoek te gaan naar hun gedeelde herkomst. Met zijn benadering van de natuur wijst Lempert ons op de manier waarop de mens meestal voorop wordt gesteld in onze kijk op de wereld.

Foto van de dam - een vrouw met een bord 'stop the satanic "agenda 2025"' - foto niek de greef

Na die esthetische onderdompeling loop ik terug door de stad, waar de realiteit voor zijn eigen absurdisme zorgt. Ik loop langs de Dam. De kans hier een bijzonder mens te spotten is groter dan waar ook. Een oudere dame met gouden engelenvleugeltjes op haar rug trekt mijn aandacht. Ze houdt een bord omhoog waarop staat geschreven ‘STOP THE SATANIC “AGENDA 2030”’. Het is geen probleem als ik foto’s van haar wil maken. Terwijl ik haar fotografeer, blijft ze telefoneren.

Thuis probeer ik uit te zoeken wat die satanische agenda 2030 is. Veel over zo’n satanische agenda valt er niet te vinden. Dan pas leg ik de link met de 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, als ik stuit op dit blogartikel over de profetieën en de 2030 agenda op de site van de Open Christian University, een Amerikaanse instelling.

Er is kennelijk een stroming, die zich christelijk noemt en aanstoot neemt aan de agenda van de Verenigde Naties die de aarde wil beschermen tegen de impact van de mens. Ik was altijd in de veronderstelling dat christenen de Bijbelse taak hadden om de schepping van hun god zorgvuldig te beheren. Daarom komt het me bizar voor dat de 2030 agenda wordt volgens in ieder geval de schrijver van het artikel op de site van de Open Christian University gezien als een stap in de richting van een gecentraliseerd wereldwijd systeem dat leidt naar één wereldmacht: de antichrist. Kennelijk deelt de dame op de Dam met de gouden engelenvleugeltjes het idee dat het beschermen van de aarde leidt tot de komst van de antichrist.

Toevallig schreef ik van de week nog een verhaaltje over complotdenkers. Je zou er bijgelovig van worden.

Zie ook

[Neil Postman over Huxley en Orwell] – Huxley’s waarschuwing: waarheid verdrinkt in irrelevantie. Antichrist-agenda 2030 als bewijs

Douglas Coupland on Novelty and Craft; the analog world gets new attention

Schagen

I am reading Shopping in Jail by Douglas Coupland. In the essay, I find two interesting quotes:

…novelty that reflects the powerful but less prominent forces of any culture is interesting and worthy of exploration.

I recognize this in photography. Pictures of the parade are never as interesting as pictures of what is happening on its edges. The people watching the events are more interesting than the event itself.

In an ever-flattening world of downloaded non-physical experiences, the crafted object is in the ascendant and ultimately might prove to be the trunk of the tree that gives rise to the next dominant wave of modern art.

The essays are from some time ago, and we have since seen the rise and death of the NFT as an ultimate non-physical experience in art. Yet, the analog world gets new attention when digital artifacts emerge.

The experience in concerts and festivals emerged when music went digital and streamed. At the same time, streaming channels have the distribution of music accessible to anyone. They are no longer limited to large record companies. This allows more novelty and experiments on the edge. Now, analog music media such as vinyl and cassettes reappear, and “merch”—another name for analog artifacts sold directly by the musicians—has become the standard and is more profitable for many bands than their music.

In the literary world, a similar flattening change has taken place. The internet has reduced the volume of the book-reading audience. Still, at the same time, it has opened up a channel for sharing writing and ideas. While the mainstream e-book business seems dominated by Amazon, there is enough opportunity to access readers with some additional marketing efforts, and these efforts can make a significant difference.

Social media have turned into sales channels for photography and other arts—and we should treat them as such—but analog experiences such as books, zines, prints, and expositions are where art is enjoyed.

Recent photo prints

Pierre Verger and Diana Blok in Cobra, curatorial contrasts

We visited the Cobra Museum on the second-to-last day of photographer Diana Blok’s exhibition “I challenge you to love me.” This was September 30th, and I only found my notes back today.
We came for Blok, but most of the exhibition on the second floor of the Cobra Museum is devoted to the work of photographer Pierre Verger. The exhibition on Verger is called “The One That I Am Not.”

In the name of Verger’s exhibition, each word begins with a capital. For Blok’s, it doesn’t. And that says a lot.
The exhibition of Verger’s work is, above all, much.

Pierre Verger was an anthropologist who traveled extensively, taking photographs. His images led visitors around the world. He made a lot of images. Some are monumental, but many are primarily ethnographic documentary. And many they are. A tighter selection would have been possible, leading to a more a more exciting exhibition.

We walk on to the exhibition on Diana Blok in the corner of the room—or so it seems. Unlike the exhibition on Verger, Blok’s work is tightly curated, leading to a very interesting tentative exhibition.

Diana Blok has created work around different concepts. Strong images have always been selected based on the themes. Blok’s work is fresh and surprising, sometimes uncomfortable. I find a family portrait of naked sons lifting their naked mothers uncomfortable but wonderfully well-made.

Diana Blok walks around and films the exhibition on her iPhone. She turns I look straight into her camera. Imperturbably, she continues filming, as she should.

Freek de Jonge in de Stadsschouwburg van Haarlem (2024)

Het is bijna 55 jaar geleden dat Freek en Hella elkaar hier ontmoetten, vertelt Freek tijdens de voorstelling.

De show start haperend. Dat ligt niet aan Freek. Binnen vijf minuten klinken drie keer telefoonpingeltjes op uit de zaal. Freek moet zich zichtbaar beheersen. Ooit in Carré zag ik hem woedend een rollator-rekwisiet stukgooien op het toneel toen een groepje meiden in de zaal onophoudelijk zaten te giechelen. Hij moest de dames de zaal uit sturen. Nu loopt het beter af en volstaan een paar snerende opmerkingen.

Hella moet Freek van achter uit de zaal af en toe helpen als hij een scene vergeet.

“Start het liedje nu maar in,” zegt Freek.

“Eerst nog even over Starbucks,” zegt Hella.

Freek mengt mooie verhalen met goede grappen.

“Hoe zie ik eruit?” vraagt BBB-voorvrouw Caroline van der Plas trots in de schminkkamer van een tv-programma waarin ze beide zullen optreden.

“Vet!” zegt Freek.

Een incompetente loods vindt zichzelf aan het stuur van een schip met kernafval. Als minister-president Schoof aan het hoofd van zijn kabinet.

Een mooi mini-liedje “Vrede op aarde” sluit de show af, en Freek nodigt de zaal uit mee te zingen. Ik ben niet van het meezingen, maar het is ontroerend.

De show is opgenomen en het internet vertelt me dat deze op eerste kerstdag bij de VPRO op NPO 2 te zien is. Hopelijk is het kabinet Schoof met zijn incompetente ploeg dan al gevallen. Vrede op aarde.

Na afloop verkopen Freek en Hella (zelf) in de foyer Freeks nieuwe boek De Zeeuwse Jaren.
Ik koop een exemplaar. Hella hanteert de pinautomaat en Freek signeert het boek. Ik dank Freek voor het boek en vergeet hem te bedanken voor de mooie intieme show.

Freek de Jonge en niek de greef in de Stadsschouwburg van Haarlem
Gesigneerd boek van Freek de Jonge

Composition on doormat

Stanley Brutus
Composition on doormat #35, 2024
Mixed media

Birds, Brancusi and Starling; Autoxylopyrocycloboros

Simon Starling - Two Birds, No Birds — A Mirrored Displacement (Proposal for an Inter-Institutional Exchange)

Some days ago, I wrote about ‘Bird,’ Brancusi’s artwork, which I stumbled upon in Bucharest’s National Gallery. Steichen bought it and paid a premium to import it into the US.
Yesterday, I watched a video about Simon Starling, a conceptual artist and photographer from the UK. Starling created a work in 2004 with the exuberant name Two Birds, No Birds — A Mirrored Displacement (Proposal for an Inter-Institutional Exchange). This work is a diptych of two photographs of ‘Bird’ in a particular exhibition space.
A nice loop.
(Omitting pun re bird named starling)

Autoxylopyrocycloboros

Unrelated, I found Autoxylopyrocycloboros is an interesting conceptual work by Starling about a wooden steamboat that eats its own tail, being fueled by its own hull.

Nice nerdy weaving

Beautiful artwork from chip design and a vice nerdy story about this Navajo weaving from Marilou Schultz.

Hans Aarsman on Garry Winogrand’s Rattle

Hans Aarsman wrote about Garry Winogrand, and also created a fantastic, expressionistic monologue about the chaos he recognizes in his photographic works.

You can download the monologue on this page in English and Dutch. The links are sort of hidden. Hoover the mouse under the text “ARCHIEF”, where you see a large faint “X”. I think the original thumbnail has disappeared. The monologue is called Ruis in Dutch and Rattle in English. Rattle, I can imagine, is the noise in the streets, but I do not understand Ruis (noise, static). The monologue reads like a train-of-thought rattle. Very much how like Winogrand talked in a very Rattly manner.

Listen to this except:

You can find the full interview here.

Garry Winogrand
Garry Winogrand

A beautiful answer to AI crap art

Such great election artwork in The Guardian.

This is just such a great idea, well executed.

The Guardian goes analog art