Ways of Seeing in the Age of AI: New Optical EpistemologiesCity University of Hong Kong School of Creative Media
As artificial intelligence reconfigures the nature of perception, this programme interrogates the shifting grounds of visual truth. Bringing together AI Hyperrealism (Chapter 1 of Anatomy of Non-Fact) by Martyna Marciniak and LUMI by Abelardo Gil-Fournier and Jussi Parikka, the event explores how machine vision transforms image production, information transmission, and our sense of reality.
Both works treat the image not as a static record, but as an evolving epistemic event. AI Hyperrealism illuminates the collapse of authenticity, exposing the mechanisms of a "post-truth" landscape. Conversely, LUMI reconstructs lost icy landscapes from archival light data, transforming the scientific metric of albedo into a poetic instrument for visualizing memory and climate.
Moving beyond the mere spectacle of AI art, this programme adopts a critical stance on the changing paradigm of visual knowledge. The screening is followed by a roundtable featuring the filmmakers alongside Prof. De Kai, whose expertise in machine learning and AI ethics bridges the gap between computational logic and aesthetic practice and it will deepen the inquiry into synthetic agency. Moderated by acclaimed media artist Prof. Samson Young and curator Emilie Choi Sin Yi, the discussion will bridge global theoretical frameworks with local artistic perspectives.
Together, we trace how the optical has become a site of negotiation between sensory experience and machine learning. Join us to examine how the "synthetic" is redefining the boundaries between fact, fiction, and simulation.
Language: English