Generative re-photography: On photographic automatisms of synthetic images

The article explores the relationship between photography and generative AI, discussing whether AI-generated images that appear photographic can be considered photography or if they represent a distinct medium. To address this question, the article proposes drawing on the media-theoretical concept of ‘automatisms’, as advanced by Stanley Cavell and David N. Rodowick. Focusing on the emerging practice of ‘generative re-photography’, the article examines the ways in which artists Anja Engelke and Craig Ames deploy photographic automatisms in their works. By appropriating found photographs and recreating them synthetically, both artists demonstrate how multimodal generative AI is fundamentally dependent on the medium of photography and its history – particularly the photographic automatism of documentary recording. Rather than contrasting traditional photography with synthetic images, the works reflect on both their continuities and discontinuities, emphasizing the cultural automatisms embedded in technological automatisms.