THE VOID BEYOND FLAWLESSNESS, 2024
Moving Image｜ Installation｜Publication
This project uses moving image, interactive installation, and visual publication to explore the place of AI in the context of Ocularcentrism. By generating ‘perfect’ images from established photographic frameworks, it examines whether AI-driven deep learning can replace human aesthetic creation rooted in subjective experience and emotion, and questions whether technology can truly capture and express individual existence.
THE VOID BEYOND FLAWLESSNESS (installation view), Nanjing Center, Nanjing, China, 2024
With the development of AI deep learning algorithms and potential diffusion models in recent years, AI-generated high-quality images have been put into commercial use in large numbers around the world, and have also won awards in various photography competitions. AI-generated images are ‘perfect’ in terms of image quality. I’m beginning to wonder: is creativity based on individual aesthetic experience still relevant compared to large-scale machine learning? Or will the development of artificial intelligence mark the demise of photography? Based on this doubt, I try to train the AI to generate more ‘perfect’ images from everyday photographs through the lens of mainstream photographic aesthetics. I also explore the endless sea of images formed by such juxtaposition, transformation, and intermingling with the help of different mediums, looking for an open outlet.
Western thought’s emphasis on vision—from Plato’s ‘two worlds’ to modern times—has created a complex ‘ocularcentrism’. Despite anti-visual critiques, vision still dominates aesthetics. The use of AI reinforces this ocularcentrism and promotes an aesthetic hegemony that moves ever closer to the standard of ‘perfection’. AI deep learning relies on large amounts of mainstream data, leading to the replication and reinforcement of existing visual standards, resulting in a homogenized aesthetic. This visual centrism suppresses creativity and diversity, further exacerbating the commercialization of visual culture. AI-generated images often prioritize visual impact over cultural, historical, and emotional depth.
Kant proposed that beauty is purposeless pleasure. Robert Frank, author of The Americans, said, ‘A photograph must contain one thing, the humanity of the moment.’ The question we must ask ourselves is not whether AI-generated images meet the professional standards of the photographic form, but whether we should give them the same aesthetic value as images created by photographers. We must decide if we are willing to accept the potential scenario where images generated by prompts and machines replace a medium that requires love, creativity, effort, and dedication.
01: PUBLICATION: Deconstructing Perfection
I trained the AI to learn in-depth about mainstream photographic aesthetic frameworks to enable it to master a wide range of photographic techniques, aesthetic principles, and artistic styles in order to generate perfect photos. This book objectively and in detail catalogues, describes and deconstructs the before and after states of each photo generated, and preserves the commands and codes used by AI to modify the original photo in multiple dimensions such as composition, colour, light, elements and depth of field.
The small pages of this book show my daily photography, AI-generated ‘perfect photos’ and graphic compositions, with dimensions based on the original photographs. The large pages are uniform in size and contain detailed descriptions of the photos and AI-generated code analysis.
02: INSTALLATION: Generating Perfection
Diffusion models play an important role in generating the perfect photo. Diffusion models generate data by adding noise to it and then learning to remove the noise step-by-step, producing realistic outputs. Using the Noise Diffusion Model and Ai Deep Learning principles, I created this device that generates perfect photos, built and inaugurated using materials such as a stainless steel shaft, aluminium profiles, slide sliders, camera, screen, stepper motors, and acrylic panels.
03: MOVING IMAGE: The Void in a Perfect World
THE VOID BEYOND FLAWLESSNESS, 02min33sec, HD 1920×1080, 2024
THE VOID BEYOND FLAWLESSNESS (video still), 02min33sec, 2024