PhotoVogue Festival 2023: The Talks
This conversation took place on November 18th 2023 as part of the PhotoVogue Festival 2023 which centered around the theme “What Makes us Human?: Image in the Age of A.I.”
Since 2015, I have explored the Korean peninsula through my photography, uncovering social phenomena and the results of economic growth and development, as well as the consequent side effects they have had on the population. Broken Mirror is an artwork which uses documentary language, where I blended my perception of North Korea with that of artificial intelligence. I used the Midjourney software, to which I explained in detail the result I wanted to obtain, and I repeated this operation hundreds of times per image until I obtained a result similar to the one I had envisioned. I inserted a foreign element into the scenes of the daily life of North Koreans, in the form of insects which grow bigger and more intrusive until they look as if they can control people. Finally, North Koreans themselves turn into insects, thus bringing the endured domination to completion. The idea at the root of this project is about my job as a documentary photographer on North Korea together with my fascination for science fiction and dystopian scenes – from black and white photography by the great photographers of the past to physical body modifications which are typical of David Cronenberg’s films. In a sense, I drew from my personal database of images, videos, considerations, influences and fears, perhaps not too differently from what artificial intelligence did when putting together the images I wanted, often adding unexpected elements that were out of my control. Broken Mirror is, therefore, the result of a compromise between myself and artificial intelligence, where the exceptional nature of North Korean society, strongly influenced by one of the harshest totalitarian regimes in the world – which, in actual fact, isolates the country and its citizens – is represented by adding an alien element, in a sort of Kafkaesque metamorphosis. On a second level of reading, this external element, in the form of insects, is a metaphor for the invasive and controlling nature of technology and artificial intelligence in society in general. The use of the Midjourney software (currently in version 4) represented my renunciation of complete control over the final result, as this technology often adds unexpected and not always correctable elements.
Filippo Venturi is an Italian documentary photographer. He produces personal projects concerning identity and the human condition. His works have been published in leading international magazines, such as National Geographic, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Financial Times, Vanity Fair, Marie Claire, Newsweek, Geo, Der Spiegel, Die Zeit, Stern, Internazionale, La Repubblica, Il Corriere della Sera and La Stampa.
For the past years he has been engaged in a project on the Korean peninsula, earning him the Sony World Photography award, the LensCulture Emerging Talent Award, the Il Reportage Award, the Voglino Award and the Portfolio Italia – Grand Prix Hasselblad.
His works have been exhibited in Italy and abroad in exhibition spaces and festivals like Foro Boario in Modena as "New Talent" of the Modena Photography Foundation, MACRO - Museum of Contemporary Art in Rome, Somerset House in London, U Space in Beijing, Willy Brandt Haus in Berlin, Sony Square in New York City, Copenhagen Photo Festival, Kaunas Photo Festival, Voies Off Awards at Les Rencontres d Arles, Photolux in Lucca, SI Fest in Savignano sul Rubicone, Riaperture Photofestival in Ferrara, PhMuseum Days Photo Festival in Bologna and Festival of Ethical Photography in Lodi.
“Broken Mirror. A dystopian guide to crossing the border”is part of day 2 "Picturing the Future: A.I. and the Evolution of Visual Storytelling" of the Symposium taking place at BASE Milano on Saturday 18th November.
The event is free and everyone is welcome to attend.
The recording of this panel will be uploaded after the Festival.
Saturday 18th November - Day 2 “Picturing the Future: A.I. and the Evolution of Visual Storytelling” will also feature:
- “Blending ART + SCIENCE: A Human Approach towards the Future of Creativity” by Alessandra Sala
- “Pretty Girls Look Like This: A.I., Photography and Racism within digital media” Mutale Nkonde
- "90 Miles - A.I. Reportage Illustration” Michael Christopher Brown
- “Broken Mirror. A dystopian guide to crossing the border” Filippo Venturi
- “Making the invisible, visible: Pictures as the most powerful force for change.” Nicki Lees
- "Envisioning Tomorrow: A.I. and the Future of Visual Narratives", Group discussion
- “What Makes Us Human?” with Paola Mieli, Paolo Benanti, and Giacomo Rizzolatti
PhotoVogue Festival is a project directed by Alessia Glaviano (Head of Global PhotoVogue) and co-curated by Francesca Marani (Senior Photo Editor, Vogue Italia), Chiara Bardelli Nonino (Editor, Writer and Curator), Daniel Rodríguez Gordillo (Content Operations Strategy Manager, Condé Nast) and Caterina De Biasio (Visual Editor, PhotoVogue)
