STUDIO KEVIN ABOSCH: EARLY EPOCHS (2017)

Kevin Abosch’s 2017 project, EARLY EPOCHS, is a key contribution to the conversation between human creativity and AI. In this work, Abosch employs Progressive GAN (PGAN) technology to explore both the algorithms behind image generation and the underlying data that informs them. By training the PGAN on a personal archive of mobile phone photos, the artist encourages us to reflect on the often subtle connection between our everyday experiences and the digital data that is increasingly shaping our cultural landscape. Each of the 30 works in the series is composed of a grid of four images, captured from the nascent stages of the GAN’s learning process—its early epochs. Here, before the network has had the opportunity to refine and settle into a coherent, detailed representation, the raw, abstract outputs reveal a visual form of "surface truth." These images encapsulate an ephemeral quality: an arresting, colorful abstraction that resists the urge to become immediately figurative or literal. Instead, they offer a window into the algorithm's formative steps, exposing a vulnerability and openness that is rarely visible in fully-trained models. The intentional choice to highlight early epochs is both conceptually and historically significant. While PGAN was engineered to produce ever more detailed, larger images as training progresses, Abosch’s subversion of this objective underscores the potential of what lies beneath the surface. By throttling and reconfiguring the algorithm’s natural trajectory, he foregrounds a process that is typically obscured by the pursuit of realism. The work thereby challenges our conventional understanding of machine learning as a pathway to perfection, instead proposing that beauty and meaning can emerge from the unrefined, the experimental, and the provisional. In EARLY EPOCHS, Abosch navigates the tension between control and randomness. His project is not merely a commentary on technology; it is an exploration of the boundaries between the artist’s intentionality and the algorithm’s emergent behavior. The resulting images, with their vibrant hues and abstract forms, evoke both the fragility and the promise inherent in early creative expression—whether human or machine-generated. Historically, this project situates itself at the intersection of art and technology at a time when the implications of artificial intelligence were beginning to permeate mainstream discourse. It stands as an enduring testament to the potential of AI as a creative tool, challenging us to reconsider the processes by which meaning is generated in the digital age.

“In subverting the algorithm from its directive to trend towards fidelity, I’m able to glean meaning before the machine has a chance to distract me from my mandate as an artist.” - Kevin ABOSCH

Technical notes: Each work is comprised of a grid of 4 outputs from the model. Each output was generated at 512x512 pixels creating a 1024x1024 pixels composite image which was further up-scaled to 2048x2048 pixels using “nearest neighbor” resizing. The color space of each work is sRGB and the file format is PNG. These works were created in December 2017 and minted to the Ethereum blockchain in January 2025.