Neurosurrealism in the Service of Revolution: Aesthetic Features and Critical Potential of Neural Network Art

Abstract

The rapid development of neural network technologies in recent years has given rise to the formation of many interdisciplinary research areas, including neural network aesthetics. The aesthetics of generative creativity today is studied not only in the context of the history of digital art, but also in comparison with the practices of other artistic trends and schools. Thus, the expression “neural surrealism”, which has become entrenched in popular discourse, undoubtedly refers to the aesthetics of classical surrealism, framed and fixed in Andre Breton’s program texts: neural network algorithms allow you to create images that seem both realistic and absurd due to unexpected combinations of objects, distorted proportions and presence of uncanny images. Although “neural surrealism” can be seen as a depoliticized and unbiased game of generated images in contrast to the surrealism of the 1920s and 30s, which was not merely an artistic movement but a radical social project, it appears that the very ability of neural networks to generate extraordinary and unpredictable images holds a certain critical potential. Using the methods of formal-stylistic and ideological-content analysis, the author of the article concludes that “neurosurrealism” in a sense continues the line of classical surrealism to undermine the automatism of perception and patterns of thinking. Generative algorithms become a kind of “exclusion production machines” that allow you to see reality from an unexpected angle. In addition, the very fact of using neural networks in art raises important questions about the nature of creativity, the limits of artificial intelligence and the future of man in the world of smart machines. Neurosurrealism problematizes well-established ideas about the originality and intentionality of artistic expression, which indicates the close connection of generative artistic practices with the aesthetics of classical surrealist creativity. The conducted research will be useful to specialists of a wide profile: media theorists, art historians, philosophers, cultural scientists, as well as developers and representatives of the creative industries.