WE GOTTA SHINE WITH YOU

By Krystian Furman

Conspiracy is like glitter. Cheap, accessible, appealing – spreads like wildfire and gets everywhere. Departing from Reddit theories about who the biggest importer of the sparkling material is, I create my own made-up stories in a childish play with the Internet dispute. I sent the invitation to release your imagination from the frame of rationality, without thinking of consequences.

The conspiracy is all-present. Just like glitter. If you have ever felt tempted to buy one of those kitschy glitter-made items of no use, you know how hard it is to get rid of every single flake of this crap. Almost as it penetrates your skin at the molecular level. It corrupts your circulatory system, sinks into your cells, and makes your mitochondrion cheesy and plastic. And then it gets into your brain.

This is also highly contagious. Once you get infected, you just cannot stop mumbling about your earth-shattering discoveries that would turn the world upside down. You stop by your friends’ place and have a small chitchat, some cookies. After that, you can’t say no to throwing up this rainbow mash made of glittering particles of conspiracy as a thank you.

“You’re always more than welcome” - says your friend, when the first, gleaming parasites full of colour start to march through his lungs. After that, feeling a little dizzy and having eaten a fair dose of paracetamol, he goes to tuck his kids in... I know what you all think – OH GOD, NO HE IS ABOUT TO PASS THIS SCARY DISEASE TO THE KIDS. And you’re damn right – now, not only will he look for some miraculous herbal rituals to cure his cancer but he won’t allow having his offspring vaccinated.

note fRom KRYstYna

AI can be a great tool for photographers and visual artists if they know how to make use of it. Looking at what Krystian has done in the project – Is there a better way to visualize the conspiracy theory topic rather than with the technique surrounded by conspiracy itself? It is a great way to expose our relation to technology, information, what we understand, and what we don’t understand. How do we react to it? This also relates back to the origin of conspiracy theories. I think that AI has just become one more thing in the artist’s toolbox. It does not threaten the artists like some sceptics would argue; without the artist it cannot exist on its own. Artists are too smart for that and the AI generated art lacks what people are looking for in art in the first place – a human element, a place for connection.