After organizing a couple of the latest batches of images I produced as part of my algorotoscope work I wanted to step back and see what I had made. I wanted to get better at organizing some of the more interesting images I had produced using specific Tensorflow machine learning models. Much of my work is pretty random without much connection between the image I trained my models on and the images I applied my models to–they are just making for some interesting colors and textures. However, along the way I have been trying to squeeze more meaning as well as texture and colors out of the models I am training as well as the photos I take, and apply these models to.
After reviewing my work I came across five separate filters I feel like are beginning to get at what I am seeing when it comes to algorithmic distortion on the web. Providing a collection of images that I feel represent this work well.
- The Persistence of Memory - One of the first ML models I trained using Dali’s thought provoking work.
- Copper Circuit - One of my earlier models that I trained by leaving the world of art and using objects.
- Nazi Invasion - Produced during a darker period after the Charlottesville rally rattled our world.
- Nazi Poster - A continuation of that work showing how the web is being used to promote hate and fear.
- Russian Propaganda - Looking at how Russian propaganda is disseminated online, all the way up to the White House.
I have several other collections simmering behind the scenes. I’ve bee producing some interesting photos and continue to generate ML models from interesting subjects. I’ll add photos to these collections as new ones emerge, and I’ll add other collections when I get enough photos to round off each collection, and enough words to tell the story. It just makes me happy to surface some of these older images I had created, but were beginning to get buried by each newer wave of work.
I am not happy with the majority of what I am producing, however I do have full control over how I train my models, as well as apply them to images–I haven’t for a couple of years now. This will help stabilize my work, helping me mine specific topics, time periods, and imagery. Currently I am looking for ways that I can help visualize how technology is being used to distort and provide disinformation when it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic. It will take me a while to focus in on some meaningful images that I can use, as well as take some new photos of common aspects of the world we live in right now.
