Desktop Studies - second usb

The 'Different Stages of Beautification' serves as a thought-provoking exploration of how artificial intelligence influences our perceptions of femininity and identity, shedding light on the complex interplay between technology and societal perceptions. 

The first video is an AI animation, created from the input that was written as a description: 'a woman putting on make-up, in the style of watercolor'. The AI autonomously decided to put a beauty filter on, in contrast to other specification that were tested before as: 'a woman touching her face', 'a woman touching herself', 'a woman looking in to the camera'. Anastasia voluntarily decided to feed the machine learning algorithm her personal data to test the results using her own face using a small part  of another of her works, emphasizing the technology's power to either reinforce or reshape societal beauty ideals.

The second video represents the artist`s head and hand covered in green screen costume putting on make-up. This imagery opens up a world of possibilities for reshaping and customizing one's identity. The absent body parts represent placeholders for potential transformations, driven by AI and sourced from the vast expanse of the internet. 

The work addresses the pervasive trend of beauty filters embedded within phone cameras by default, as you need to go to the General Settings on your phone to deactivate it. Many individuals unconsciously and unknowingly adopt these filtered images as their self-image, leading to a dissonance between how they perceive themselves through their own camera and their unaltered appearance in other people`s photos. This dissonance can induce feelings of dysphoria, as Caroline Mimbs Nyce wrote for 'The Atlantic', AI will create beautiful humans without any description even being given to it, as more and more edited images are being fed to it.

The notion of the green screen face serves as a canvas for self-creation, exemplifies the potential of AI and internet-sourced imagery as blueprints for constructing online avatars or even guiding decisions related to plastic surgery.

Bio:
Anastasia Manole uses mostly stock images, Google-searched images or YouTube videos, relying on basic skills of montage and editing that remain deliberately sketchy and unfinished. These works provide a subjective commentary on how art has become again a craft that imitates reality. Displaying a wide range of topics and themes rooted in self-referential exploration, Anastasia Manole shifts between spontaneous displays of feminism and remixable data.

The 'Different Stages of Beautification' serves as a thought-provoking exploration of how artificial intelligence influences our perceptions of femininity and identity, shedding light on the complex interplay between technology and societal perceptions. 

The first video is an AI animation, created from the input that was written as a description: 'a woman putting on make-up, in the style of watercolor'. The AI autonomously decided to put a beauty filter on, in contrast to other specification that were tested before as: 'a woman touching her face', 'a woman touching herself', 'a woman looking in to the camera'. Anastasia voluntarily decided to feed the machine learning algorithm her personal data to test the results using her own face using a small part  of another of her works, emphasizing the technology's power to either reinforce or reshape societal beauty ideals.

The second video represents the artist`s head and hand covered in green screen costume putting on make-up. This imagery opens up a world of possibilities for reshaping and customizing one's identity. The absent body parts represent placeholders for potential transformations, driven by AI and sourced from the vast expanse of the internet. 

The work addresses the pervasive trend of beauty filters embedded within phone cameras by default, as you need to go to the General Settings on your phone to deactivate it. Many individuals unconsciously and unknowingly adopt these filtered images as their self-image, leading to a dissonance between how they perceive themselves through their own camera and their unaltered appearance in other people`s photos. This dissonance can induce feelings of dysphoria, as Caroline Mimbs Nyce wrote for 'The Atlantic', AI will create beautiful humans without any description even being given to it, as more and more edited images are being fed to it.

The notion of the green screen face serves as a canvas for self-creation, exemplifies the potential of AI and internet-sourced imagery as blueprints for constructing online avatars or even guiding decisions related to plastic surgery.

Bio:
Anastasia Manole uses mostly stock images, Google-searched images or YouTube videos, relying on basic skills of montage and editing that remain deliberately sketchy and unfinished. These works provide a subjective commentary on how art has become again a craft that imitates reality. Displaying a wide range of topics and themes rooted in self-referential exploration, Anastasia Manole shifts between spontaneous displays of feminism and remixable data.

The internet is becoming a popular source for spiritual exploration, especially in the context of the breakdown of traditional institutions and the challenges of the pandemic era. This has led to the emergence of new spiritual beliefs and mythologies, often blending ancient traditions with contemporary internet references and remix culture. While some may view this as absurd or ironic, it reflects a deep human need for meaning and purpose in an increasingly complex and fragmented world. The internet’s ability to derealize and dissociate also makes it an accessible portal for reaching religious ecstasy. Ultimately, this emerging paradigm represents a departure from the rigid certainties of the past and a bold exploration of new frontiers of the mind and spirit. And I am in the middle of it all, just a girl being online. I am just channeling. I am just a vessel. That’s all. I am just going seraphim mode. 

Bio:
Mari is a visual artist from Transylvania. Her work is hyperstitions and code writing as magic, worldbuilding and reality shaping, using faith as an operating system, Love, truthmaxxing, network spirituality both IRL and online, and prayer-posting. She memed her way to the True and the Real. Her and her work are a sincere reflection of being and being online.

Constructed within the structure of a website, 'Desktop Studies' consists of four interactive scenes (or levels) that explore the domain of Herne Hiili’s digital archive, rekindling moods and memories of the past. Each of these scenes is enriched with personal video snippets and musical fragments, providing a nostalgic and immersive journey through the contents of the artist digital history. This web-based project allows viewers to explore the interconnected layers of these experiences, evoking a sense of nostalgia and introspection while integrating multimedia elements that deepen the emotional and sensory connection with the material.

Bio: 
3D hobbyist & former professional gamer

'Latent News' examines the multidimensional latent space used by artificial intelligence models in order to generate images. Using the Stable Diffusion AI, static frames belonging to real news programmes, such as the TVR broadcast during the 22nd of December 1989, are re-contextualized. Through a series of prompts, the frames are transformed into other significant historical events. Sequences of teletext interwoven between the images show an AI description of the visuals in the form of teletext.

Bringing together the past and the future, as well as building a bridge between analog and digital aesthetics, 'Latent News' shows an AI perspective on the flow of information and time, with its often disjointed characteristics.

Bio:
Dogioiu Dragoș-Ion is a New-Media artist interested in XR and animation, currently active in Bucharest. As a member of Kinema Ikon, he has collaborated with them in a number of exhibitions and workshops. He has also worked with museums, private galleries and cultural institutions, including the Ars Electronica Centre Linz where he participated in a group exhibition in 2022.
He is currently a teacher at the CINETIc Center in Bucharest, where he teaches subjects related to VR, AR and world-building.

‘You Are Light and Cabbage', 2023, is a video dedicated to a wellness influencer symbolized by a cabbage head. The project aims to illustrate how social media is being exploited to spread misinformation, COVID conspiracies, and far-right ideologies by engaging in discourse rooted in magical thinking. In the video work, Cabbagehead's message is addressed to its three followers: the yoga mum, the entrepreneur and the tennis player, each one referring to an existing character in real life. The characters are shown travelling in a car filled with cabbages and crashing into a rock in the desert. They die and so they meet their deity, a cabbage head, who preaches them about reconnecting with nature, harnessing their inner strength, cultivating positive thinking, trusting their intuition, and letting themselves be guided by the law of attraction. The project also explores the notion that online influencers are a new type of clergy for millennials, whose belief system encompasses elements such as politics, self-optimization, therapy, wellness, or astrology.

Bio:
Diana Gheorghiu uses computer generated characters to explore the topics of self-care, new food, and the wellness industry. Her work follows on from her research into online communities that promote healthy lifestyles. Her research takes place within the philosophy of the wellness industry that has undergone a subtle shift from social to individual responsibility. Diana’s work criticizes the pressure placed on the individual to lead a healthy life and the accompanying feelings of guilt and anxiety and a lack of belonging. For this exhibition Diana creates a digital influencer who invents and sells their own practice, demonstrating how easy it is to construct a wellness methodology within an online community.

‘You Are Light and Cabbage', 2023, is a video dedicated to a wellness influencer symbolized by a cabbage head. The project aims to illustrate how social media is being exploited to spread misinformation, COVID conspiracies, and far-right ideologies by engaging in discourse rooted in magical thinking. In the video work, Cabbagehead's message is addressed to its three followers: the yoga mum, the entrepreneur and the tennis player, each one referring to an existing character in real life. The characters are shown travelling in a car filled with cabbages and crashing into a rock in the desert. They die and so they meet their deity, a cabbage head, who preaches them about reconnecting with nature, harnessing their inner strength, cultivating positive thinking, trusting their intuition, and letting themselves be guided by the law of attraction. The project also explores the notion that online influencers are a new type of clergy for millennials, whose belief system encompasses elements such as politics, self-optimization, therapy, wellness, or astrology.

Bio:
Diana Gheorghiu uses computer generated characters to explore the topics of self-care, new food, and the wellness industry. Her work follows on from her research into online communities that promote healthy lifestyles. Her research takes place within the philosophy of the wellness industry that has undergone a subtle shift from social to individual responsibility. Diana’s work criticizes the pressure placed on the individual to lead a healthy life and the accompanying feelings of guilt and anxiety and a lack of belonging. For this exhibition Diana creates a digital influencer who invents and sells their own practice, demonstrating how easy it is to construct a wellness methodology within an online community.

'Latent News' examines the multidimensional latent space used by artificial intelligence models in order to generate images. Using the Stable Diffusion AI, static frames belonging to real news programmes, such as the TVR broadcast during the 22nd of December 1989, are re-contextualized. Through a series of prompts, the frames are transformed into other significant historical events. Sequences of teletext interwoven between the images show an AI description of the visuals in the form of teletext.

Bringing together the past and the future, as well as building a bridge between analog and digital aesthetics, 'Latent News' shows an AI perspective on the flow of information and time, with its often disjointed characteristics.

Bio:
Dogioiu Dragoș-Ion is a New-Media artist interested in XR and animation, currently active in Bucharest. As a member of Kinema Ikon, he has collaborated with them in a number of exhibitions and workshops. He has also worked with museums, private galleries and cultural institutions, including the Ars Electronica Centre Linz where he participated in a group exhibition in 2022.
He is currently a teacher at the CINETIc Center in Bucharest, where he teaches subjects related to VR, AR and world-building.

The artwork proposes a reexamination of the Christian founding myth from a contemporary perspective, focusing on two key symbolic elements: the Serpent and the Apple. Personal research into pre-Christian religions has revealed that these two symbols have been fundamental in numerous traditions, legends, and beliefs dating back to ancient times. The shedding of the serpent's skin has made it a symbol of transformation, rebirth, and wisdom.
The title 'Forgive me father, for I have seen' alludes to the understanding of the good and evil through the awareness of the duality of our subjective existence. The phrase reflects the discovery of the "truth" about serpents, which, although perceived in Christianity as symbols of temptation, chaos, or hell, can have diametrically opposite meanings in other mythologies. There are vast differences in the accounts of similar events, depending on the source. These discrepancies draw attention to the inaccuracies and underscore the need for vigilance. In essence, the artwork is a reflection on the meaning of truth and the human need to seek it, regardless of consequences.

Bio: 
Antonia Corduneanu (b. 1994) is a multidisciplinary artist, constantly seeking new challenges in each project to expand her skills and knowledge. She has been practicing graphic design for over 7 years, with experience in branding, illustration, typography/lettering, posters, packaging, and editorial work. After completing her bachelor's and master's degrees at the University of Art and Design in Cluj-Napoca, she has participated in various collective art and design exhibitions and organized a solo exhibition, "If your species disappears clap your hands," at CAV Multimedia, Bucharest, in 2020. Her work is inspired by the intersection of technology and nature, futurism and ancestral themes, conveying the essence of concepts through clear lines and metallic textures. 

'I had this dream again!' is a 3D animation that illustrates the concept according to which the timeless internet becomes an archive of human experiences. Memories, thoughts, and individual contributions are preserved indefinitely, becoming part of a digital legacy that transcends generations. Consequently, each individual contributes to a collective narrative of humanity where the boundaries between real and virtual blur, stretching into a future without strict temporal limits.

Bio:
'3Delusional' is an online alias adopted by Ema Motea (b. 1998), a 3D artist based in Bucharest. She is a graduate of The National University of Arts Bucharest and is currently experimenting with 3D art and interactive installations. Her work delves into the intricacies of conflicting relationships that unfold at the crossroads of societal norms and personal freedom. She employs the virtual realm as a canvas for storytelling, navigating the landscape of an evolving digital culture that is steadily assuming the role of the dominant cultural force.

Through the use of whimsical, ironic, and playful aesthetic nuances, Ema Motea's artistic practice endeavors to challenge conventional narratives. Her approach is marked by a commitment to introducing fresh, flexible, and expansible perspectives, inviting audiences to reconsider the boundaries of the ordinary.

This lucid dream is born from the author's own reality, who spends at least an hour each night on TikTok before falling asleep. It's a manifestation of how content addiction has deeply ingrained itself in her subconscious desires, like a form of digital microplastic, completely blurring the boundaries between real life and the virtual world and exacerbating the artist's preexisting mental health issues.

Bio:
Irina Bako, also known as Datejuice, started learning 3D on her own in 2020. In the meantime, she has worked on several artistic and commercial projects and has had several art exhibitions throughout Romania. The multiple female characters she creates serve as symbolic interfaces for her emotions and thoughts.
Her digital landscapes and portraits usually depict dreamscapes, memories, imaginary fashion models or cute but weird beings. Her work is filled with tongue-in-cheeck visual fetishes: humanoid models in revealing clothes, special objects or distinctive poses that she invests with symbolic and emotional value, creating a performative 3D ‘shot’.