Synthetic Images: Data-based Aesthetics

Resumo

This essay examines how data-based practices contribute to new perspectives on the empirical value of images. Recent methods employing machine learning enable visualisations to be produced based on the large-scale analysis of data but that are detached from direct sensorial observation, subverting the forms of visual objectivity traditionally associated with technical and scientific methods of image-making. This research aims to develop insights into the forms of visual knowledge that these methods may give rise to, as well as facilitating critical discourse on the grounding of visual practices in relation to technical and scientific methods.