Authors:
Scott Minneman, Renato Verdugo
Contributor: David Szauder
Curators: Scott Minneman and Renato Verdugo
 | Szauder's haunting "Anatomy Sweaters" surface the vulnerable interiors we all share. |
David Szauder's digital art occupies a unique space between deeply personal narratives, technical experimentation, and precedent. His creative method often involves gathering emotionally resonant material first, including digitized Super 8 films from his grandfather, archival family imagery, and photographs taken by himself and close relatives. He meticulously collages and blends these, as well as myriad art, film, and archival materials, into precise inputs for generative AI tools, deliberately steering their outcomes through manipulations he calls "visual cheat codes." Rather than relying heavily on written prompts, Szauder carefully selects and layers images and footage to guide algorithmic generation toward emotionally meaningful, visually compelling results.
His distinctive work—from the "Fresh Air Suits" born out of a harrowing Covid-19 experience to surreal and psychedelic Instagram reels, such as his take on Vivaldi's "Spring" concerto—reflects both personal anxieties and an arresting imagination. Rigorous postprocessing further transforms initial AI outputs into polished artistic statements, balancing intentional imperfections with aesthetic precision. Szauder's art resists the superficial prompt and generate culture, championing instead a nuanced practice that foregrounds historical awareness, introspection, and iterative refinement. Szauder's practice exemplifies how deeply personal content, meticulous process, and conceptual rigor can elevate GenAI art while keeping it delightfully weird.
Authors
David Szauder is a pioneering digital artist who blends AI-generated imagery with profound personal narratives. His work has been exhibited widely, including at Ars Electronica and the Centre Pompidou, as well as on Instagram and other social media platforms. Szauder is currently expanding the range of his compelling digital work into robotic installations and feature-length projects. His upcoming monograph, Glitches & Glory: The Digitally Rewired Art of David Szauder, illustrates his role in shaping generative art's creative and emotional potential.
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The Digital Library is published by the Association for Computing Machinery. Copyright © 2025 ACM, Inc.
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