Ignavus Auspex

Found photography digitally manipulated.
Various sizes. Edition 1 / 1

At first glance these images look like ordinary depictions of birds in their natural habitat but on a closer look one notices that the surroundings do not really make any sense. The original images come from ornithologist websites, it’s the kind of generic picture used to describe a specific species. I have used algorithms to analyze the image and sample it’s content – creating a larger but artificial landscape.

Image editing software have become so powerful and advanced that they open up a broad array of possibilities to make new imagery based on existing photographic content. The majority of the visual appearance in these images are interpretations, a mathematical assumption on how new pixels should be added to make a trustworthy image. I find it interesting to use an algorithm without any sense of aesthetics – to create images with a strong and unique style.

The title Ignavus Auspex is Latin for lazy birdwatcher, a playful titel aiming to allure the viewer to think about how these images have been made. An ambitious ornithologist always refers to the latin name when categorizing birds. Even though I don’t call myself an ornithologist, I am using latin when searching online for new species to add to my collection. I’ve found that it is the most efficient way to encounter high resolution pictures.

Auspex in the title means ”a person watching birds” and even though I am not out in nature, I’m still obsessively looking at birds on my computer screen. From a traditional ornithologist perspective my method probably comes across as lazy – hence the first part of the title – Ignavus. However in today’s remediated society we experience much of the world through screens and as an artist I aim to make images that reflect contemporary life.

Each image in this series borrows its title from the file-name of the original picture. In order to see how it looked before I manipulated it one can just google the title, for example 1200px_Eupetomena_Macroura_Piraju_Brazil.

Read more (in Swedish) https://www.verktidskrift.se/erik-berglin

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