Abstract

"In the mid-1800s, the British botanist and photographer Anna Atkins created the world's first photo-based botanical species list. Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions (1843-1853) produced using the most modern technology of the time, have continued to inspire generations of artists and image makers.

Craig Ames similarly uses today's most cutting-edge technology to create what he calls "AI impressions".

Ames has taken the Latin names of the species that Atkins illustrated, then processed them in an AI generator, thus creating completely new forms. The "photographic" result has been labeled and cataloged in a new visual taxonomic determination of the simulated algae.

His synthetic organisms blur the boundaries between real and artificial while highlighting the increasingly strong connection between the natural world and simulated hyperreality."

https://www.landskronafoto.org/craig-ames/