Hito Steyerl — How Artificial Intelligence Will Abolish the Photographer’s Professions — MEP, Maison européenne de la photographie — Exhibition — Slash Paris

In 7 months: June 23 → September 26, 2027

To mark the Bicentenary of Photography, the Maison Européenne de la Photographie (Paris, France) and the Fondazione MAST (Bologna, Italy) are joining forces to take stock of the state of photography in an era of upheaval brought about by artificial intelligence. They have given artist Hito Steyerl (b. 1966, Munich) “carte blanche”; she proposes a groundbreaking research project that explores how artificial intelligence and its digital precursors are leading to the disappearance of photography-related professions—or, at the very least, their radical transformation. The project draws on recorded conversations between Hito Steyerl, the exhibition curators, and professional photographers from around the world, including studio and travel photographers, artists, photojournalists and war photographers, portrait studio owners and lab technicians, Photoshop retouchers, and image editors. Together, they help shed light on the reality of contemporary image production, as well as technological, commercial, and market developments: to what extent is generative AI changing their work—or even rendering it completely obsolete? When will these changes take place? In what direction will this medium evolve? What did the last “real” photograph they took themselves look like? The final form of the work and the exhibition will reflect this diversity of materials.

Curated by: Florian Ebner, Julie Jones, Matthias Pfaller in collaboration with Hito Steyerl