Phase Diagram 5

In geology, the term "phase diagram" describes graphical representations of the physical states of a substance under varying conditions of temperature and pressure.

In this series of works, the PHASE DIAGRAMS, Jennifer & Kevin McCoy use StableDiffusion, a deep learning text-to-image AI, to generate detailed images from text descriptions. They begin by creating forms that echo the silhouettes of geological formations and then proceed to activate distinct elements of each collage through image processing. The layers of images depicting rocks, mountains, water, and sky appear like striations across the screen, with each layer scanning through an image chosen from databases of AI-developed source images.

Here, established media processes like photography and collage are juxtaposed with the rapidly developing technology of AI, and the landscapes reflect this AI illustration of the natural world, which exists in the uncanny valley of distant memory. In an interview, the McCoys explain, "We want to make a connection between earlier aesthetic sensibilities and the new kind of image that is essentially a statistical image—an ‘averaged‘ image created through mathematics."