Do you ever feel like you're being watched? ..listened to? ..followed?
'Surveillance State' is the result of experimentation with AI and video collage - mixing and merging AI-generated images, video footage, and elements from my vector-based artworks and animations.
The concept: A surveillance state is a society in which the government actively monitors and controls the actions of its citizens through the use of technology. In surveillance states, citizens lack privacy and have strict controls on what they can do and say. A surveillance state may also use its power to suppress dissent and maintain its hold on power. Bitcoin uses cryptography for security and is used for transactions without needing intermediaries like banks or credit card companies. Unlike fiat money, bitcoin gives individuals control over their money and prevents governments and third parties from tracking or censoring those transactions.
Inspiration for the piece:
Video Collaging - I recently met an artist named Satter Ugly who told me my work reminded him of Marco Brambilla. Satter showed me 'Civilization' and I loved it.. so I began exploring the idea of collaging video footage into my work.
AI Image generation - I've been following new developments in AI image generation for the past year or so. Over the past few months, I've experimented a bit with Midjourney and Stable Diffusion generating thousands of images. I also gained a lot of insight from discussions with AI art creators to guide my quest to unlock some of AI's potential into my work.
St. John the Evangelist on Patmos - last year I spent a good amount of time studying the work of Hieronymus Bosch as I took some inspiration from his works in creating Cypher Deos. One piece I really love from Bosch is St. John the Evangelist on Patmos, which you can see here is where the eye-shaped composition is derived from.St John the Evangelist on Patmos by Hieronymus Bosch
Specifics about my creative process:
The base image was generated in midjourney using a prompt about a surveillance state with a circular composition, inspired by hieronymus bosch.
Individual characters and elements were generated separately using Midjourney and Stable Diffusion, composited in layers over the original image in photoshop, and animated in after effects.
Stock footage x Video AI:
The crowd of people with arms up (wrapped around the inner eye section) is stock footage run through a video AI to match style. The camera on top is an AI-generated animation using stock footage of a security camera and running it through Disco Diffusion using a prompt to generate surveillance state imagery, invoking the style of Hieronymus Bosch once again.
The drones are my vector artwork used in Cypher Deos: Purgatorio; as well as the witch and bitcoin rocket woman. The swamp is also an adapted version of the swamp from Chronicles: 2008.
Surveillance State uses licensed music: Secret Code Breaker by Olive Musique. For the sound design, I slowed down the track to make the loop, pitched up, added in some industrial noise, insect and drone sounds, jet flybys, etc.
Surveillance State by Lucho Poletti
perceptive
