Expanding his exploration of artificial intelligence and instant photography, Sarp Kerem Yavuz traveled to Vienna in October 2024 to collaborate with Supersense, the company created by Florian "Doc" Kaps who founded the Impossible Project and re-invented instant film. Together with the Supersense team, Sarp deployed an experimental method to expose AI-generated images onto expired, 20x24 inch Polaroid film, using one of the eight large format Polaroid cameras in the world.
The resulting images were presented in a solo exhibition at the Volkstheatre in Vienna for TED AI, Europe's first TED conference on Artificial Intelligence, followed by a solo exhibition at Soho House Istanbul.
The series, titled Under the Sultan's Eye, is a direct continuation of Polaroids from the Ottoman Empire, which received critical acclaim after being exhibited at Palo Gallery and Photo Fairs New York with Von Lintel Gallery. It was also the first AI-generated series acquired by the Leslie Lohman Museum in New York. These unique works are some of the first and only large format AI Polaroids in existence. Due to the unpredictable quality of the chemical materials used, and experimental the digital-to-analogue process, they contain digital and chemical artifacts that are all part of the final artwork.
—
2024
AI-generated image on expired large format Polaroid film, float framed in hardwood 36 x 22 in.
Signed on verso