Pixel Perceptions

Can you still believe your own eyes? Artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithms are (un)consciously becoming more and more part of our daily lives. The relationship between man and machine is changing, and in the creative industry, it raises questions about the reliability of images. For example, how does AI impact the creative industry? Noorderlicht is exploring that question this autumn with a powerful group exhibition. Pixel Perceptions focuses on AI and the reliability of images. We look at what impact all those algorithms have on our daily lives and the consequences for creators and the creative industry.

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is playing an increasing role in our daily lives. This artificial form of intelligence, consisting of algorithms that recognise patterns in large amounts of data, can now also generate images, texts and sounds on its own – from simple shopping lists to detailed photographic portraits. While AI offers countless new possibilities, it also raises critical questions. How reliable is image still in an age when machines can manufacture visual information? How do we as humans relate to technology, and how will AI affect the photographic and lens-based field? Pixel Perceptions highlights this influence from three main perspectives:

On the view of truth
Photography has traditionally been seen as a reliable reflection of reality. However, AI is increasingly challenging this idea. Algorithms can create seemingly ‘real’ images that seamlessly blur the line between the real and the artificial. This raises questions about fake news and the reliability of visual information. London-based AI.S.A.M.’s pioneering work in AI photography challenges our perception of authenticity in virtual worlds, capturing moments within fabricated environments and artfully blurring the lines between physical and digital existence. Pixel Perceptions explores how these innovative explorations of AI are changing the value of photography and rearranging the impact of this technology on our relationship with reality.

On seeing and being seenAI is not neutral. It reflects the biases and assumptions of the people who programme it. In Pixel Perceptions, we explore how AI sees us and how we view AI. The works playfully and critically show how this technology is affected by stereotypes. One example is Unheard by the duo Ymer Marinus and Martina Raponi, developed especially for Pixel Perceptions in collaboration with the deaf community in Groningen. This work focuses on elements of sign language, such as space and movement, which are often ignored by AI. Through trying sign language themselves, the installation invites visitors to understand what it means to experience yourself in a silent technological world.

On change in visual culture
Rapid developments in AI are having a huge impact on art and photography practice. The exhibition explores, with, for example, Calculating Empires: A Genealogy of Technology and Power, 1500-2025 by Kate Crawford and Vladan Joler, the creative possibilities of AI in the collaboration between humans and machines. This diptych of immense data visualisations on wallpaper shows, on the one hand, the development of communication tools, infrastructures and computer architectures, and, on the other, how these technologies are woven into social practices of control and power, from prisons to education and military systems. The work reveals how echoes of the past recur in today’s technology.

Pixel Perceptions can be visited from 26 October 2024 to 19 January 2025 in the Akerk and Noorderlicht Studio. The grand opening will take place in the Akerk on 27 October 2024 at 16:00, with an opening symposium at 13:00-15:30 beforehand. Want to know more about the subject in advance? Then listen to our podcast episode Pixel Perceptions! (Dutch spoken) or read the guest blog from Boris Eldagsen.

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