the ai edit™ 4: banned architectures

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Current AI-based creative tools intend to reshape the way that content - be it a drawing, movie or text – is made. Never before have we been so seemingly free. However, with this freedom comes a catch: a layer of top-down control whereby specific output is banned. Particular ideas are restricted. The pencil denies the will of the hand.

In an effort to avoid output that may be considered offensive, these apps are simultaneously stifling creativity. They are in fact doing the opposite of what they claim their services do: to unleash creative potential. If we were to retroactively apply these standards to all past works of art, such as the contorted bodies of the artist Hans Bellmer or the fleshly architectures of Marcos Cruz, they would surely be censored, denied the right to exist, outright banned. The mangled architecture of Lebbeus Woods might be offensive to those survivors of war-torn regions or natural disasters. Even Goya and Bosch wouldn't be spared. H.R. Giger? Absolutely not. The list goes on and on.

Banned architectures, while using generative AI as a means of production, intends to fight against such censorship by putting perverse façades, erotic machines, grotesque architectures and disarticulated bodies on full display.