Arithmétique Vivant

Running May 29th – September 1st 2025

About the show:

Gallery Photoland welcomes you to visit, Arithmétique Vivant, a solo exhibition of artwork by Stuart Rosemurgy (24-25 photography intern). This show is a collection of work exploring ways of thinking about artificial intelligence, with a focus on generative imagery. Through corrupting the code of digital images with poetry, capturing video of AI data centers in Quincy, Washington—a small farming community—and collecting/displaying water samples from the Columbia River above and below a major hydroelectric power source, this work seeks to put the viewer in touch with the materials and assemblages responsible for generative digital imagery.

Artist Statement:

Arithmétique Vivant is a collection of work exploring ways of thinking about artificial intelligence, with a focus on generative imagery. The work stems from a belief that the term “artificial intelligence” obscures and anthropomorphizes the functions and processes of computation, to the detriment of our interactions with it. Through corrupting the code of digital images with poetry, capturing video of AI data centers in Quincy, Washington—a small farming community—and collecting/displaying water samples from the Columbia River above and below a major hydroelectric power source, this work seeks to put the viewer in touch with the materials and assemblages responsible for generative digital imagery. While digital images are experienced as dematerialized forms flickering on a screen, there is a vast network of materiality that precedes and structures that form: electrons jump across silicon transistors, nearly the size of atoms; dams control the flow and change the course of rivers, generating cheap electrical power; AI corporations construct data centers, taking advantage of cheap power, to house their labyrinthine libraries of training materials and to run AI models.

In order to truly comprehend the turn of generative AI, we must first reach out and touch the very real materiality of dematerialized images. Through this process we can begin to see the mathematical functions of code in contrast to the loose, interpretable nature of language, which loosens the grip of anthropomorphized interaction with AI models. Franco Berardi writes, “Code is a limited exercise of language and, simultaneously, it is the imposition of a performing and productive limit. Limits can be productive, but outside of the space of limitation, infinite possibilities of language persist immeasurably. […] Poetry reopens the indefinite, through the ironic act of exceeding the established meaning of words.” (Berardi, 31-32) In the linguistic game of generative imagery, approaching images poetically may counteract the deterministic, algorithmically-generated image assemblages.

As a result, this work directly opposes the idea that the world is fundamentally reducible to numbers and codes, and instead decentralizes the human perspective, addressing the liveliness, diversity, and more widely distributed agency of matter. It argues for reverence in interactions with all non-human things, and aims to dispel fantasies of human mastery. Perhaps through a more inclusive understanding of material agency, an increased awareness of digital processes, and a poetic reexamination of our interaction with digital images, we might be able to reframe the context of our interactions with artificial intelligence.

Stuart Rosemurgy is an interdisciplinary artist from Michigan, currently living in Olympia Washington. Their work focuses on decentralizing human perspectives and highlighting common materiality. They are a 2025 graduate of The Evergreen State College.

Works Cited
– Berardi, Franco. Breathing: Chaos and Poetry. Semiotext(e), 2018.

 About the Gallery:

Gallery Photoland is a non-traditional exhibition space that showcases established photographic artists who represent diverse experiences and world views. The Gallery functions to spark ideas and support connections across the Evergreen community; it is a place for inspiring students about possibilities in fine arts beyond the shores of Eld Inlet.    

The Gallery hosts exhibitions aligned with the mission of The Evergreen State College. 

Install Photographs