Macchia: mirroring images in the digital domain

This research explores the framework of meaning that is produced when representations of material forms are transported between the material world and the digital domain. This presentation reflects on the ways that hand-made images are understood when transported into the digital domain. Through a series of my own drawings that accurately reproduce digital images I have been testing the ways that image search engines interpret hand-made representations as ‘equivalents’ of their source. My drawings are close facsimiles of material found online, citing and reversing the detachment from hand-made processes. Experimenting with internet image search engines I ‘return’ my copies to image-search for ‘equivalent’ images. The plagiarism search engine software appears unable to read my images correctly and often cannot locate the sources from my drawn copies. The image search ‘equivalents’, the demonstration of what the artificial intelligence ‘sees’ raises questions about the difference between human and AI visual comprehension.