VEVEY.- Are artificial intelligence and photography complementary fields of artistic creation, or anything but? This exhibition offers a rare peek behind the scenes at artistic and technological experimentation, inviting visitors to consider or rethink the role of art amid contemporary changes in images and the way we see them.

The Swiss Camera Museum in Vevey asked French-Swiss photographer and artist Mathieu Bernard- Reymond to investigate potential interactions between the traditional techniques involved in taking a photograph (aiming, framing and recording) and the possibilities opened up by AI for enriching rather than eliminating them. The emergence of systems capable of generating images from nothing more than text-based descriptions raises multiple questions – and concerns – about the impact of generative AI on the practice of photography. By placing language at the heart of the creation of images (which may now have no relation whatsoever to any real-world scene), AI is ushering in a new era and redefining the basic premises of artistic and visual creation.

To investigate these new challenges, Mathieu designed a unique camera, in collaboration with the Swiss design studio Mouvement Studio, with embedded AI that enables it to listen to what the photographer says when taking the photo and record, process and alter the picture accordingly. As well as preserving the procedure of taking a picture, this allows the photographer to ‘murmur’ their inner aspirations for what the scene in question should look like to the device. Doing so creates a new kind of relationship between the camera and the photographer, challenging the idea that AI has to be a dehumanising technology. Rather than casting artificial intelligence as wholly invisible, the device itself, the technology it uses and the images it produces invite us to consider AI as a tangible extension of the history of photographic art and technique.

Murmurs also interrogates the nature of the creative process in an age of generative technology: how can artists work ‘alongside’ a machine and its language whilst simultaneously ‘subverting’ its programming by hijacking or rejecting its automated responses? Eschewing both fascination and condemnation, the project takes an open-minded stance, highlighting the issues, limits, resistance and potential this type of technology is now bringing to the fore.

The exhibition is supported by the Friends of the Swiss Camera Museum, the Canton de Vaud, the Givel Foundation, the Loterie Romande and Pro Helvetia - Swiss Arts Council.

Mathieu Bernard-Reymond is a French-Swiss photographer born in Gap, France, in 1976.

After reading literature, politics and art history, Mathieu Bernard-Reymond turned to photography, studying at the Vevey Professional Teaching Centre (CEPV) in Switzerland. Since then he has explored new forms of imaging that combine poetic sensitivity and experimentation with digital technology.

His work questions and transforms landscapes, architecture and information, which he sees as another pliable material forming part of constantly evolving visual language. His work combines generative technology and data manipulation to produce pictures that push the boundaries of traditional photography to open up new perspectives.
Alongside his artistic work, Mathieu teaches digital technology at CEPV Vevey, sharing his expertise and interest in image innovation.

His works have been awarded several prestigious awards, including the HSBC Prize (2003), awards at the Rencontres d’Arles (2005) and Paris Photo (2006) festivals and the Arcimboldo Award for digital photography (2009). Some of his works have been preserved in the Nicéphore Niépce museum (France), Photo Elysée (Switzerland), the French Contemporary Art Archive and the Lausanne Contemporary Art Archive.