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CAO SHU 曹澍
b. 1987, works and lives in Hangzhou
CAO SHU 曹澍
2025
single-channel video
AI-generated video
12 minutes 30 seconds
Edition of 5 + 1AP
CS_8929

The work "Acheiropoieta" begins with the human silhouettes "imprinted" onto the wall by the nuclear explosion in Nagasaki in 1945. It explores the hauntology connection between photography and nuclear radiation, and the relationship between the light of creation and the light of destruction. The photographer, using divination photography to interpret dreams, is trapped in a nightmare of distorted time memories. In early East Asia, photography was often seen as a medium for capturing the souls of the deceased. Meanwhile, artificial intelligence diffusion models generate images from noise; however, these images are often accompanied by grotesque "glitch" phenomena. These accidentally generated phantoms may be technological accidents, but they are also fears from the collective unconscious and forgotten memories. Nuclear radiation and photography are both technologies about survival—like artificial intelligence, they are mediums of ghost. I deliberately chose images of disfigured and distorted limbs generated by early artificial intelligence and juxtaposed them with images of physical trauma caused by nuclear radiation. The damage and distortion caused by both physical damage and grotesque distortion symbolize a kind of "technological trauma." They embody the profound fears implanted in the human subconscious by modern technology, and both visually represent a kind of "automated surrealism." They are like "automated nightmare machines", leaving their mark on our inner world. In fact, using artificial intelligence is like merging the images left by all the deceased on Earth, and it's a way of coexisting with the ghosts of the past.

Related Exhibitions:
Lighting on the Upper Reaches of the Lethe, TANK, Shanghai 11.07, 2026 -01.24, 2027


Collections
De Ying Foundation


Related Works:
CS_8664
Hecate I
CS_1935
Hecate II


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