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Arts Humanities
Date
Nov 24, 2024
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1
Essay Assignment
23F Understanding Art – 590
Balkarn Singh
Professor : Judith Gibson-Vick
Georgian College, Barrie
Due date : 5 November,2023
2
ESSAY:
#4: Boris Eldagsen “Pseudomnesia: The Electrician” AI produced photograph.
Look at this image VERY carefully. For this image you will want to consider the impact of
AI on the art world and the relationship of AI and society. (Hint: Research the definition of
‘Pseudomnesia’
Introduction
Boris Eldagsen is a German artist who makes unusual photos to explore the unconscious
mind. His recent works use AI image generators to create fake memories called "Pseudomnesia."
Pseudomnesia refers to a phenomenon where someone recalls a memory that did not actually
occur.(
Boris Eldagsen | ABOUT | Boris Eldagsen
, 2022) The AI-generated image titled "The
Electrician" embodies this idea through its layered visual composition. The image shows two
faces blended together, one in sharp focus and one faded, representing the intertwining of real
and false memories. This essay will analyze how the different elements of this surreal artwork
visually portray the essence of pseudomnesia. The overlapping portraits symbolize the merging
of authentic and fabricated recollections. The black-and-white tones evoke a sense of the past,
like an aged memory. The light leak signifies distortion of actual events. Overall, the haunting
image uses contrast, imperfections, and double imagery to capture the experience of
pseudomnesia, where the mind confuse real memories with imagined ones. This analysis will
explain how the various details come together to artistically represent the concept of mistaken
memories. By exploring the meanings behind the symbolic elements of "The Electrician," we can
better understand how the artwork encapsulates the nature of blurred truth and fiction in
pseudomnesia.(
PSEUDOMNESIA | Boris Eldagsen
, 2023)
3
Historical Position
Berlin-based artist Boris Eldagsen is known for conceptually driven photography that
philosophically examines human psychology and perception. After developing an interest in the
medium in the 1990s, he honed his craft during the post-Cold War period(
Boris Eldagsen |
ABOUT | Boris Eldagsen
, 2022). Collaboration is essential to his practice, as he partners with
other artists and set designers to bring symbolic scenarios to life through meticulous
photographic techniques. Eldagsen's recent series "Pseudomnesia" thoughtfully responds to
artificial intelligence in art. Using AI neural networks, he fabricates vivid fictional past events
that provocatively reflect on how technology can reinvent subjective memory and truth. This
work prompts reflections on memory, identity, and the increasing role of AI in conditioning our
sense of reality. By creatively incorporating emergent technology into his photography, Eldagsen
reveals its complex impact on art, memory, and the human condition. "Pseudomnesia" uses AI to
fabricate imagined histories, poignantly exploring its double-edged influence on truth, creativity,
and the subjective experience of memory.(
PSEUDOMNESIA | Boris Eldagsen
, 2023)
Description - "Pseudomnesia: The Electrician":
The AI-generated artwork "The Electrician" utilizes overlapping portraits and black-and-
white tones to create a visually striking composition. In terms of elements of design, it makes
effective use of line and shape to differentiate the two faces, one in sharp focus and one faded
and indistinct. The smooth, clean lines of the forward portrait contrast with the blurred lines of
the ghostly face behind. Value is also key, with the high contrast between dark and light areas
directing the viewer's eye. The principles of emphasis and unity are strong, as the dual portraits
are unified compositionally while the forward face draws emphasis. The Digital illustration
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4
seems to use photomontage methods to overlap two separate portraits into a cohesive image. The
grainy black-and-white style gives the impression that historical photographic elements have
been digitally assembled and altered. There is a light leak effect that enhances the surreal,
dreamlike aesthetic. Overall, the image achieves symbolic depth through its strategic use of
contrast, focus, and double imagery, applied through digital illustration techniques that blend
different faces and tones. The composition directs the viewer's gaze while evoking hidden
meanings.
Artistic Intent -
In the artwork "Pseudomnesia," Daniel Eldagsen uses AI to generate fictional
photographic scenes that explore the blurring of truth in memory (
PSEUDOMNESIA | Boris
Eldagsen
, 2023). The composite images echo how human recollection often inaccurately blends
fact and fiction when reconstructing the past. Eldagsen prompts reflection on AI's growing
ability to produce convincing fabricated images depicting events that never occurred. The work
expresses unease regarding AI's power to manipulate perceptions of reality. Yet it also implies
that human memory already does this in flawed ways, selectively editing the past. By
incorporating emergent technology into his art, Eldagsen displays openness to AI's creative
potential while critically examining its implications. "Pseudomnesia" highlights tensions
between the benefits and risks of AI. It invites viewers to contemplate the imperfections of
memory, photographic truth, and the complex interplay between human and artificial creativity.
Eldagsen provocatively probes AI's impact on art, memory, and truth. His work utilizes
technology while asking vital questions about its influence on our understanding of authenticity
and the past.
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Conclusion
Concluding, In this thought-provoking photograph, Eldagsen compellingly explores AI's
emerging impact on photography, memory, and reality. His eerily realistic fabricated scene
makes us reflect on memory's imprecisions and technology's growing ability to create convincing
fake evidence of events that never happened. Eldagsen effectively questions photography's
meaning in an age when AI can generate seemingly real alternate histories and memories. His
use of AI also raises probing questions about differences between human and machine
intelligence, creativity, and perception. Ultimately, Eldagsen's work powerfully demonstrates
photography's continued relevance for examining truth in the digital era. By blurring fact and
fiction, his unsettling AI-created glimpse of an artificial past reveals illusions in both human and
machine minds. Through insightfully addressing AI's challenges, Eldagsen impactfully reaffirms
photography's enduring capacity to illuminate the deeper mysteries of memory, identity, and the
human condition.
6
References
PSEUDOMNESIA
|
boris
eldagsen
.
(2023,
April
21).
Boris
Eldagsen.
https://www.eldagsen.com/pseudomnesia/
boris eldagsen | photo & video art berlin
. (2023, October 10). Boris Eldagsen.
https://www.eldagsen.com/
boris eldagsen | ABOUT | boris eldagsen
. (2022, June 27). Boris Eldagsen.
https://www.eldagsen.com/boriseldagsen/
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