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I. Group Project: Image Analysis Assignment

Choose an AI image-generation platform or platforms you will work with. Explore some possible text prompts and agree on ONE simple prompt (example from the reading was “a man and woman kissing”). Generate multiple images using the same prompt (you can modify it slightly if you have trouble getting different images but in some platforms you could also say ‘try that again’ or ‘give me another version of that’ to re-use the same prompt).

Here are some options for Ai image generators:

https://www.bing.com/images/create?FORM=GENILP

https://aitestkitchen.withgoogle.com/tools/image-fx

https://openai.com/dall-e-2 ; https://chat.openai.com/

https://www.midjourneyai.ai/en

https://clipdrop.co/stable-diffusion-turbo

Use the method from the article to analyze your examples. Look at formal similarities and compare the styles and details, the overt content and the implicit aesthetics. Imagine entirely different ways an image could have depicted that prompt and see if you can posit possible reasons why you are seeing the results you are getting. Try to articulate the underlying assumptions, associations, and visual conventions that might shape what is showing up.

Create a GoogleSlides deck to explain your process and analysis. ALSO create a written essay of 6-8 pages that explains your process and analysis. This can be broken up into sections that follow Salvaggio’s method. For example, indicate the platform you used and the prompt; describe the patterns that appeared in the sample images; explain questions you asked in order to analyze these patterns; offer interpretations you drew based on what is shown and not shown and the suggested strengths and weaknesses of the dataset; consider how cultural assumptions and norms may shape why the prompt renders this kind of image; consider the implications. The write-up should include a bibliography citing texts from the course and any websites you used.

At the end of your write-up you should write a one paragraph “collaboration report” that indicates how you worked together and how each group member contributed.

Here is an example of a collaboration paragraph:

We met in person for 2 hours to experiment with Midjourney; person A was saving images on their laptop and person C was taking notes. The next day person A drafted a slide deck and shared it; and person C shared their notes. We each chose a text from the class to re-read before our next meeting. We met for 2 hours to analyze the images we’d gathered and work on the write-up. We agreed on the overall arguments and content for the write-up and slides and then assigned sections for each person to work on asynchronously. Everyone did an equal part in that preparation but A was sick for our final meeting so B and C revised the drafts together.. A was the strongest help in choosing a prompt and working with the platform to gather images; B was the most help in developing our interpretation of the images; we relied heavily on C’s writing skills as we pulled together the write-up.

II. Individual Essay: To what extent is an AI-Generated Image a Photograph?

Consider the texts we examined from the history of photography, and texts we have read about AI-generated images. Develop an argument about what you believe should define “photography” and why. What are its essential qualities and why does this matter–what is at stake in ways AI-generated images take this over or reinvent this? Your definition of what constitutes “photography” could vary widely based on the position you choose to take. For example, you could argue it is the capture and representation of the actual world, or it is mechanical and automated production, or it is the way images circulate with specific kinds of social and cultural value (personal snapshots, government archives, datasets), or a specific form of lens-based mediation with aesthetic potentials anchored in that format, or something else! After making an argument about what photography “is,” make an argument about how AI-generated images align with, evolve, or break from these criteria. I am open to whatever position you want to take on this but you must SUPPORT your argument with analysis of specific visual examples and through engaging with both historical and current writings about photography and AI.

This essay should aim for about 5,000 words (about 10 double spaced pages). It should address at least 3 specific images as case studies and  should have at least 4 significant sources that are not only cited in a bibliography but also rigorously engaged within the body of the essay.

III. Art-Based Individual Project

Read Margaaret Renkl’s essay; what is she arguing about why photography matters today, still, in ways we might easily forget or overlook? Also consider Johanna Zylinska’s work (such as Loser images) using art practice as a form of critique or critical exploration; how is she using art-making to make an implicit argument?

Create a series of between 9 and 36 images. This could be, following Renkl, a series of photographs that explores and attends to the world around you. Or it could be, following Zylinksa, a form of ‘research’ that documents an aesthetic experiment with AI-generated imaging. Your image series could have captions or annotations but should stand on its own as a rich experience for others who will not read the accompanying write-up.

You should also create a write-up of 4-5 double-spaced pages that explains the critical framework for the project. This should draw on specific ideas from texts we have read, and demonstrate how your use of photography or experiment with AI directly engages with the questions at the heart of our course. Try to put into words the argument about contemporary photography and/or AI that you feel is implicit or aesthetically enacted through your visual project. Be sure to include a bibliography in this write-up.