Fakewhale Presents FAKEWHALE STUDIO

We are pleased to present FAKEWHALE STUDIO, a research platform committed to the scholarly exploration of artificial intelligence in contemporary art.

Throughout the 20th century, Marshall McLuhan’s theories on the technological extensions of man and the understanding of media as extensions of human capabilities remarkably anticipated many of the changes in the perception and interaction with art and media.

In 2024, decades later, we witness the emergence of an unprecedented phenomenon in the field of digital imagery. Similar to how McLuhan predicted technologies would expand our communicative abilities, generative artificial intelligence now extends our capabilities in image production, allowing us to explore new aesthetic and conceptual frontiers.

With the advent of tools like Midjourney, DALL-E, and other generative models that utilize AI to create detailed images from simple prompts, a turning point in the history of photography is marked. The ability of these technologies to generate images not only opens new possibilities for the role of the artist but also redefines the very essence of the artwork, narrowing the gap between human creation and algorithmic generation.

A concrete example of this change is already taking place in industrial design, where automatic customization from defined models leads design to explore new aesthetic variants. In this process, AI can dynamically generate images based on the context of visualization or the progressive corrections of the prompt creator.

From the early definitions by James Bridle and his ‘New Aesthetic’ to the work of Hito Steyerl with pieces like “In Free Fall” and Lev Manovich with “The Language of New Media,” various figures have explored digital aesthetics and the integration of image-based works into our perception of reality. Finally, Boris Groys, with “In the Flow,” has discussed how art fits into digital information flows, redefining authorship and communication in relation to the original object.

Applications and platforms like Snapchat and Instagram constantly accustom us to the excessive use of filters and digital modifications, in turn increasing our daily exposure to digitally obtained images or those that exploit more structured and profound modifications, exposing us indistinguishably to parts entirely generated by neural networks.