Pageturner workshop:
“AI Disruption: Artistic Inscriptions in AI-Invoked Photobook Publishing.”
The workshop, organized in collaboration with Photobook Week Aarhus, focuses on AI and experimental photobook publishing.
- Online
- Dates: Wed, 18 January - Wed, 21 February 2024
1. **Session 1:** Wednesday, 18 January
2. **Session 2:**
- Option 1: Monday, 5 February
- Option 2: Wednesday, 7 February
3. **Session 3:**
- Option 1: Monday, 12 February
- Option 2: Wednesday, 14 February
4. **Session 4:**
- Option 1: Monday, 19 February
- Option 2: Wednesday, 21 February
**Time:** Each session will be held from 1 PM to 4 PM (UK Time) to accommodate participants across different time zones.
The workshop explores the impact of AI on the realm of photobook publishing, with a particular focus on the artistic inscriptions that AI can invoke. We will dive into the diverse applications of AI in photobook creation, spanning content generation, curation, and the printing process. Drawing inspiration from AI-driven case studies, in this workshop we will harness AI’s potential to organize image collections, enhance narratives through deep mapping, and craft speculative photobook narratives using AI-generated text prompts. Furthermore, we delve into the landscape of AI-powered automated print-on-demand platforms, enabling cost-effective self-publishing for aspiring photobook creators.
- **Session 1: Introduction and Workshop Goals** - An introduction to the workshop series, focusing on artistic strategies in photobook editing and narrative storytelling using AI. Includes an interactive session with AI apps.
- **Session 2: Project Work and Development** - A deep dive into project work, featuring practical exercises, group discussions, and prompts for project development.
- **Session 3: Artistic Print on Demand** - Exploring AI disruption in artistic print-on-demand strategies, showcasing AI-powered applications for photobook printing, and mastering automated platforms for self-publishing.
- **Session 4: Advanced Applications and Wrap-Up** - Delving into advanced AI applications for project development, concluding with a review, feedforward session, and discussions on future directions and collaborations.
**Defining “Détournement”:**
Within the context of “A.I. Disruption: Exploring Experimental Photobook Publishing with Artificial Intelligence,” the term “détournement” encompasses the practice of taking elements from existing media or cultural practices and then repurposing or altering them in a manner that deliberately subverts or distorts their original meaning. Our focus extends beyond mere critique or satire of the original content; it encompasses the challenge to conventional interpretations of ‘intelligence’ and the provision of a fresh perspective on hegemonic meanings.
**Illustrating Through Examples:**
Photobook Is Did You Mean Photo Book Is (paula roush, msdm publications 2020): This work delves into the intriguing world of photobook print-on-demand publishing, leveraging artificial intelligence. It presents readers with two sections that can be read in order or randomly. The first section critically examines the term “photobook,” exploring its colloquial, vernacular, technical, academic, theoretical, and artistic dimensions. The second section includes diagrams and technical drawings related to software applications for automatic photobook production and print-on-demand. “Photobook Is” serves as an ironic image-text creation, employing sampling and “re-directed language” as a literary technique, intentionally altering language for experimental storytelling. [more + here]
24 Was the Beginning – 10 Years Ago (Oleksii Karpovich, 2023 [ + ]): During a pageturner workshop at the Malakta art factory in Vaasa, Finland, the collective invoked an AI entity to organize Oleksii’s photographic documentation of the invasion of Ukraine. After multiple iterations, a photo-narrative emerged, resulting in the final design of “24 Was the Beginning – 10 Years Ago.” The AI’s contribution included deep mapping and archival strategies, lending an urgent and empathetic dimension to the project. The resulting photobook dummy retains a photodocumentary ethos while embracing conceptual strategies, adding an artistic touch to irony within the context of artificial intelligence.
**paula roush** is a photographer and the founder of **msdm publications**.
Her research in photobook publishing is shared through the collective pageturner
[more here +] and is an integral part of the **LIBRARY OF ARTISTIC PRINT ON DEMAND** platform and the forthcoming book, **"LIBRARY OF ARTISTIC PRINT ON DEMAND: Post-Digital Publishing in Times of Platform Capitalism."**
This book explores automated (A.I.-led) print-on-demand as a critical media practice with historical and cultural significance. Set for release January 2024. It will be published by **Spector Books** in collaboration with **Andreas Bülhoff** and **Annette Gilbert** from the Free University of Berlin, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, and the Bavarian State Library. [more + here]
Furthermore, paula's engagement in participatory education traces back to 2007 when she conducted a seminar at London South Bank University titled **“THE PHOTOBOOK PROJECT at LULU.COM.”** This seminar delved into the utilization of online print-on-demand networks for educational photo publishing projects, thoroughly researching their advantages and limitations in comparison to other publishing models.
AI image generated for the project “WATERY PLACE: ENTANGLEMENT OF EXTINCTION AND OBSOLESCENCE in the Pyrenees Lakes”
contact
paula roush ::: paularoush@gmail.com
msdm studio ::: msdm@msdm.org.uk