Aesthetics As a Skill

 

Aesthetics is essentially a skill—even when using artificial intelligence to generate images. You are still using your eye and your sense of what looks good.            

AI is a way to look through a “lens”. When we photograph something we’re attempting to capture it in some aesthetic way. For me, it’s sometimes a form of conceptualization: If you photograph something that’s intentionally out of focus that’s both aesthetic and conceptual. It’s a way of breaking away from traditional ways of using a camera. But that’s going to fade away with AI because that’s not seen as being aesthetically-correct (AC). It looks “wrong” in terms of what art is supposed to look like on a social media feed. Generally speaking, our sense of aesthetics is about rightness; it’s not about something that looks wrong.            

It’s still interesting to me that something looks or sounds broken. Distortion is a perfect example of something that is broken. The idea of distortion might be something that will disappear with AI because it’s “wrong” for new reasons, not for the old reasons. AI is “oppressive” in the sense that it’s telling us what to make. It’s telling us to make things that please the eye and consequently become decoration, not Art writ large. #riff

11/23/2023

“Discuss how aesthetics is a skill”