Believers of a conspiracy theory see totally different things from those who do not believe the same conspiracy theory, which is hard to imagine how they actually see the entire world.
Q’s Views #1 is the first work in a series of AI artworks, which intends to let people visually experience such a gap hardly overcome between believers and non-believers of a conspiracy theory.
The work utilizes the ‘hybrid image’ generation technique that synthesizes two different still images into one in the manner that the interpretation can be changed as either of these two images with viewing distance.
Q’s Views #1 utilizes this Hybridge image generation technique to depict Hillary Clinton as seen by Qanon believers. When seen at far distance, it is perceived as a normal portrait of Hillary Clinton (speaking to microphones during an interview), yet when viewed from a near distance, it is seen as a picture of Hillary Clinton as reptilian eating a babiy. Thus, when the viewers approach to the portrait, they suddenly see what Qanon believers see in Hillary Clinton (a reptilian that eat children).
To generate such a portrait, an image of ‘normal’ Hillary Clinton (speaking to microphones during an interview) is first created by giving a text prompt to an AI program. Then, it is altered to a horrific image of Hillary Clinton (eating a baby) by the AI program again by using image-to-image transformation with a text prompt. This transformation of AI generated images is also utilized as a metaphor how believers of a conspiracy theory distort the reality as they wish.
NOTE: Viewers are advised to take an appropriate distance to see either of the image when viewing. It is strongly recommended for the audience to move forward and backward for better appreciation experience.
