Hidden Rooms
Mainly inspired by my trip and the imagery of the West Coast, "Hidden Rooms" explores the connection between AI and the human condition through seven themes: Curiosity, Shelter, Spirituality, Appetite, Nature, Sex and finally, Death. Through AI-generated pictures, "Hidden Rooms" captures the uncanny, repetitive, yet surreal ways AI interprets these philosophical prompts. During this journey, you, the reader will visit exotopias, or speculative spaces that are similar to the West Coast. These spaces are rendered to each of the themes, and, thus, the secret and unseen worlds of diners, motels, backyards, or deserts will open up as you read along. Primarily, this is a photo album, but here and there you will find fragments of AI-generated texts - each piece reflecting the theme of the given chapter. There is a rhythm in them, which you will find strange - but it is there to remind you the wonders and miracles of the creative human mind that can play jazz against the mechanical beats of AI.
While creating and curating "Hidden Rooms" I was often asking myself the question: What is this co-authorship about? Who is writing this book? Am I only a conductor of the orchestra, the mere director of content? Or is it something unique of a collaboration with technology that serves as a new layer of frosting on the cake of human visual culture? My intention is to challenge AI with the human voice and factor, and pinpoint the unheimlich (the Freudian uncanny) with the help of these pictures. The authenticity of human creation cannot be defeated, for our species are not only capable of genuine creation with often mindblowing extents but also we are able to observe the unnatural artificiality in the ever-growing arts done by machines. As in robotics, the theory of uncanny valley describes: the more human quality there is in an object the more likely we will grasp the nonhuman factor in it, and, the more nonhuman an object is, the more likely we realize its humanness in it.
There are landscapes that intentionally copy their real-life counterpart, however, they might also have a surreal feature or form. This is to enhance their uncanniness and the feeling of unease, because this is the world of what could be, or what could have been? The world of "Hidden Rooms" is a strange one: after you go through the hole you find at an abandoned Californian room, like a 21-st century Alice, you will see the ultimate paradox of what is beyond: it is an impossible world, with a high level of incompatibility with our reality, yet, it is like a leech, that breeds off of our world.
In conclusion, "Hidden Rooms" is just another ripple on the symbolic river that represents the communication between humankind and AI, attempting to push its limits by conquering the questions that have been puzzling people for centuries. Will AI be able to represent any of the abstract notions, opening up new visuals that have never been seen before, or will it conform to creating already-known tropes and sceneries? The discovery and its interpretation are up to you.
Get it in a bundle alongside with “H/dd3n R00ms" , where you will find more pictures that did not make it in “Hidden Rooms“ with the author’s commentary and some new locations, such as Carnival and Deep South. Plus, if you buy them, you will get an exclusive image, specifically made for the first 27 buyers that are never going to be published - if so - I would need your permission to do so. These pictures are numbered and exclusively yours - alongside with a personalized thank-you letter from yours truly.
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