More Human Than Human | Nanna Debois Buhl, Adam Jeppesen, Ann Lislegaard & Fiona Tan

This presentation brings together recent print projects by Nanna Debois Buhl, Adam Jeppesen, Ann Lislegaard, and Fiona Tan.

The basic principle of creating an image digitally to then transfer it onto a photogravure plate is common to all works in this exhibition, however the artistic processes leading to the final works are remarkably individual. In Lislegaard’s approach, language was of central importance: she prompted AI language software with instructions until it had created the intended image. Jeppesen’s Tyler H is not an existing person, but the result of Artificial Intelligence combining stock footage of existing people to create a synthetic portrait. And while the software Tan used to create her Shadow Archive was developed to facilitate the model’s transfer from digital to physical space, she undermined the software’s original purpose by realizing it as a print instead of an architectural structure. Debois Buhl enlarged and manipulated digital imagery of microscopic meteor dust grains, using the inherent tactility of the photogravure medium to make matter that is too microscopic to be visible for the human eye. Not only do these approaches reflect the four artists’ respective practices, they also exemplify their diverse approaches to the medium of printmaking.

The resulting prints are manifestations of the interplay between the digital and the physical world which is reshaping our perception of reality already today. Simultaneously, they demonstrate that it is the inherent materiality and three-dimensionality of intaglio printing that makes the medium valuable for contemporary artists.