// new media class

An essay proposes a metaphorical link between queerness and the output of altered generative adversarial networks, exploring the capacity of technology to visualise speculative horizons and imaginations, drawing from José Esteban Muñoz’s definition of queer and Sara Ahmed’s Queer Phenomenology. With these possibilities in mind, I introduce text-to-image generators which are based on diffusion-networks and highlight their potential pitfalls when applied to the creation of photorealistic images of members of the disabled and queer community.
The poster campaign for the 2023 KRAKE Festival serves as a case study to analyse the ethical considerations and challenges associated with this technology. I relate the practice of promt engineering to Judith Butler’s concept of Performativity and argue how this technology can appropriate the visual identity of drag culture.

By no means do I want to discourage the initiators of KRAKE. They Are doing the amazing work of contributing for a better today and tomorrow. But it also important to become aware how visual aesthetics and cultures are being appropriated by machine learning technologies. It is necessary to reflect on the responsibilities of how to navigate this technology. No matter how comfortable we become with it.
Acknowledges:

This essay is dedicated to all the creatures, queens and kings dedicating themselves to drag. Thanks to George Bagdasarov for your seminars about Neural Networks for artistic purposes throughout the the years 2020 and 2021 at UdK Berlin.

Download via: https://timeandplace.net/projects/latents