2024, another side of AI
The installation "Alter Ego" was the result of a design process where emphasis was placed both on technology and tactility, by using artificial intelligence to create for the physical world. I integrated AI in all stages of the creative process, and fed an image generator my own sketches, words and photography, to methodically build new worlds based on my aesthetics, and a thousand interpretations of my design language. One came to life.
The pieces are produced by Swedish furniture company Källemo, and was first exhibited at Nordiska Galleriet in Malmö.
Alter EGO
As a human being I’m easily overwhelmed with doubt and emotion. My Alter Ego is not. She is a prominent designer who takes her artistry very seriously. Like me, she works from passion, but she has cult status, she believes where I doubt, she is:
Artificial where I'm real.
Sacral where I'm banal.
Stone where I'm textile.
Action where I'm intellect.
Resolute where I compromise.
For Alter Ego, I wanted to create a world that felt both otherworldly and familiar, something with an ambiguous scale, both vast and intimate, like a pocket-sized world. AI imagery leaves so much to be imagined, at first look the prompt ”office space” looks normal, but you look again, there’s always something that feels a little off, like there’s a glitch in the AI’s interpretation. That’s what intrigued me.
This glitchy, uncanny quality became a central theme in this project. My inspiration is a blend of seemingly contradictory elements: office spaces, large desks, altars, and higher powers, combined with more intimate references like teenage bedrooms in movies or vanity tables. These elements came together to create a world that feels both sublime and personal.
Through words like somber, gallery, altar, light, soft, and hard, I guided AI to interpret and reinterpret my visual language. By layering my own photographs and sketches with generated images, I allowed the process to shift between control and chance.
The lacquered surfaces are hard and smooth, almost devoid of texture. They feel artificial, disconnected from the real world. The sand and curtains ground the pocket-world in the physical, bringing a sense of tactility.
A central element in the installation is a desk and mirror. It’s altar-like, but still intimate in scale. The tall pedestal speaks to the emptiness and potential within the artificial space.
Mirror: 3D printed wood-PLA with lacquer.
Table: Bent steel and MDF with lacquer.
Stool: Bent steel, MDF with lacquer, a padded leather seat.
Pedestal: Bent steel and MDF with lacquer.
Vase: 3D printed wood-PLA with lacquer.
