Cached Dreams
stream of prompts (2022)
Despite current AI models' explicit allusions to the Surrealist movement, the work and sensibility of its vast network of female practitioners remains gravely ignored. This blatant exclusion does not only reassert a traditionally male-dominated art historical canon, but fails to acknowledge its fundamentally political dimension.
Weaving upon the alchemical writings of Ithell Colquhoun, these AI generated video works unearth a lesser known language through semantic invocations of current text-to-image models and the fairly opaque datasets at the core of their celebrated magic.
The work aims to make visible and engage with the legacy and tender visions of these outstanding artists, whose abundant worlds and thinking proves to be ever so relevant to the countless struggles of the present.
“Cached Dreams is a video triptych created with text-to-image models that delves into rarely explored realms of female surrealism, creating interwoven visual stories that reflect unique sensibilities of the artists and addresses their often overlooked online presence and precise artwork documentation.
While mainstream AI platforms and models still continue to perpetuate art historical canons with biases towards male-dominated narratives, Cached Dreams confronts this exclusion by performing an archaeological discourse by creating synthetic data and utilizing well crafted and complex poetic prompts directly referencing and thus amplifying female surrealists’ underrepresented oeuvres and sensibilities.
Alchemical visions of Ithell Colquhoun, rich in symbolic and mystic imaginaries, challenges the conventional perceptions of reality. Her exclusion from British Surrealist movement by her male counterparts, underscores a broader narrative of resistance against traditional artistic and societal structures and invites a reconsideration of the boundaries between art, spirituality, and gender, suggesting that the integration of occult practices into art can serve as a powerful tool for transcending established norms and fostering a deeper, more inclusive exploration of human experience and creativity.
The work, embracing the materiality and phenomenology discussed in Bachelard’s conception of “wakeful dreaming”, transcends simple Freudian daydream interpretations to construct a multilayered tapestry of latent realities and potentialities. It is a gesture that strives not only to visualize but also to actualize the underappreciated cosmologies of female surrealists, forwarding their relevance and voice.”
Cached Dreams IX,video work paired together with sketches of Toyen, Non Fungibe Castle, Lobkowicz Castle, Prague, 2022
Cached Dreams IX,video work paired together with sketches of Toyen, Non Fungibe Castle, Lobkowicz Castle, Prague, 2022
An artist reference box, 1/1 containing publications, clippings,annotations compiled by the artists during the artwork’s creation. A gift to the collector to elucidate potent journeyings and explorations in the worlds behind the
artwork. Sold at VAN HAM auction, 2023