Limited Edition – Promptography Boris Eldagsen

About the work

The series shows the absurdity of the contemporary business world by deconstructing business jargon through the lens of AI. Set in a 1940s aesthetics. The AI-generated images show managers working tirelessly on the future while trapped in the illusion of control. Communication is taken to absurd extremes to sum up the emptiness of corporate rhetoric in the age of the AI boom. As the author himself states, "Anyone who doesn’t find themselves smiling here has never been a decision-maker." 

Eldagsen's current work is grounded in an exploration of consciousness, the unconscious mind of people who consider themselves leaders. His work is often both a critical probe and an ironic mirror.

Boris Eldagsen provided this image in collaboration with the Fotograf Contemporary platform on the occasion of Fotograf magazine's thematic issue Talk Together, which explores language, its pitfalls and new influences. The issue also features an extensive interview with the artist in which he reflects on his current artistic practice, the transformation of the photographic medium and the influence of philosophy studies on his approach to working with AI. The interview also includes a series of promptographs created specifically for this context.

Bio

Boris Eldagsen lives and works in Berlin. He studied photography and visual arts at the Academy of Arts in Mainz, Germany, conceptual art and intermedia at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague and fine arts at the Sarojini Naidu School of Arts & Communication in Hyderabad, India. He also studied philosophy at the Universities of Cologne and Mainz. He has gained international attention as a pioneer in working with AI-generated images, which he terms "promptography". In 2023, he opened a global debate on the relationship between photography and artificial intelligence by rejecting the Sony World Photography Awards. His work has been featured at the Kochi, Le Havre and Essen Biennials, the Melbourne, Shenzhen, Montréal and Kaunas festivals, and institutions such as the California Museum of Photography and BACC Bangkok. He is a member of the German Academy of Photography and one of the founding members of the AI working group of the German Photographic Council. He is currently teaching “AI for Creatives” at LABASAD, Barcelona School of Arts & Design.