Generativität represents a new stage of development in the history of automated production. At the command of a word, generative AI can create captivating visual worlds that make even surreal compositions appear photographically authentic. In contrast to photography, which once changed the history of images, this is an algorithmic creativity that is trained on image motifs. By reproducing their ways of seeing and stereotypes, it gradually contributes to a new aesthetic beyond digital communication, with long-term consequences for society and its visual memory.

With contributions by: Alex Estorick, Yannick Nepomuk Fritz, Adam Harvey, Charlotte Kent, Moritz Konrad, Roland Meyer.

The volume is published in the series Concepts of the Digital Image of the DFG Priority Program The Digital Image and is edited by Hubertus Kohle and Hubert Locher. The programme examines the central role that the image plays in the complex process of the digitalization of knowledge from multiple perspectives. The aim is to develop a new theory and practice of computer-based visual worlds in a Germany-wide network.

Details: Bruhn M., Weinstock K.: Generativity. Concepts of the digital image. Munich 2025.

DOI: 10.5282/ubm/epub.126472
(Open Access)
free download (PDF)

ISBN 978-3-99181-339-2