Art, community and AI

Images for an affective memory

Bibliographic Data

ID22093029
AuthorsJuan Bañuelos (0000-0003-1919-7088, Tecnológico de Monterrey), Jacob Bañuelos Capistrán, Diego Zavala Scherer (0000-0002-7362-4709, Tecnológico de Monterrey, corresponding author), N Rodríguez (0000-0002-5381-6340, Tecnológico de Monterrey), Nohemí Lugo Rodríguez (0000-0002-1334-7914)
Year2025
Volume10
Publication date2025-06-25
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFrontiers in Communication (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2297-900X • E-ISSN: 2297-900X
PublisherFrontiers Media SA (PUBLISHER • CH)
DOI10.3389/fcomm.2025.1567694
OpenAlexW4411661931
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited19

This research examines the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) image generation technologies for humanistic applications, specifically focusing on the creation, reconstruction, and reinvention of nonexistent visual archives through which communities can restore affective and identity-based memories. The theoretical framework draws from multiple perspectives: affect theory of postmemory, techno-aesthetic and affective apparatus theory, the concept of insubordination of signs, distribution of the sensible, and theories of affective memory and visual archives. Through case study analysis, this investigation examines the creative, ethical, and theoretical-methodological strategies employed in four artistic and experimental projects, each driven by distinct aesthetic, emotional, political, activist, and vindicatory objectives. The research identifies three distinct levels of intervention in fractured memory through AI: the socio-political (evidenced in projects addressing historical invisibility and state violence), the community-cultural (manifested in projects recovering cultural traditions), and the therapeutic-personal (focused on individual memory restoration). The findings demonstrate the significant potential for expanding generative AI applications toward emotional repair, memory reinvention, and transformation of established sentiment structures, introducing the original concepts of “algorithmic postmemory” as a framework for understanding AI’s active role in memory construction and “affective symbolic documentalism” for comprehending the testimonial value of AI-generated imagery. These applications challenge dominant discourses that render specific social collectives invisible within society while offering new methodological approaches for the restoration of fractured memories and historical healing

Cognitive psychology · Cognitive science · Aesthetic Perception and Analysis · Computer Science · Museums and Cultural Heritage · Participatory Visual Research Methods · Psychology · Artificial Intelligence

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