Catching up with Issue 15 guest editor Stefanie Moshammer

We’re featuring what our Issue 15 guest editors have been up to since the issue was released at Paris Photo in November 2022. Each of our 50 guest editors on the issue selected an image by an artist from our international open call to feature in a spread next to an image of their own in Issue 15. To see their work in the issue order your copy. Our guest editor Stefanie Moshammer (b. 1988, Vienna) is a visual artist whose work moves between the intimate and the public in different media, mostly with a focus on socially oriented topics. In her research-based practice she incorporates photography, installations, videos, sculptures and textile elements. In an ode to self-reflectivity, for this blog post, we asked A.I. to reflect on Stefanie Moshammer's work "We love our customers", which Moshammer used A.I. to create.

Stefanie Moshammer's "We love our customers" is a body of work that explores the intersection of research, observation, and construction. The project started in 2018 and is still ongoing. It aims to challenge the perception of our contemporary consumer culture and brand imagery by creating a conflict between the traditional and the modern, the mass-produced and the appreciation of the second hand.

The Deformed Portraits

In the search for a consumer's identity, Moshammer worked with computer-generated portraits and their cutouts, which are printed on fabric and processed into textile reliefs. These portraits are flawed in the sense that the machine failed to copy the perfect human face. The analog processing of these portraits by the artist transformed them from binary code into 3D objects shaped by human hands. The deformations and distortions could be interpreted as a critique of all the standardized social media beauties we are confronted with. Moshammer's work highlights the flaws and imperfections that are often hidden and overlooked in our society.

The Dream Closet, 2022

In the video collage "Dream Closet, 2022," bargain hunters present their successfully purchased shopping deals on YouTube. These shopping haul videos are popular and even no-names quickly get 10,000 clicks. The video is projected onto fabric pieces collected over the years by the artist's deceased grandmother. The algorithm makes more decisions for us than we would like, and it is responsible for the acceleration of our everyday lives. Moshammer uses these new technologies in an ironic way. For her work "Poems by, 2022," she fed an artificial intelligence with the vocabulary of bargain hunters and had poems generated from it. These poems were then printed on an extended paper roll and recited by a computer voice in the video work "She is but a trendy deal, 2022." The video features two women's hands with long pink fingernails imprinted with the logos of major luxury brands. The fingers play with pants and shirts, gently brushing the fabric or running tenderly along the seams.

Stefanie Moshammer's "We love our customers" is a thought-provoking piece of art that challenges our contemporary consumer culture and brand imagery. The project explores the conflict between the traditional and the modern, the mass-produced and the appreciation of the second-hand. Moshammer's work highlights the flaws and imperfections that are often hidden in our society. Two of the pieces from the project is currently on display at Belvedere 21 in Vienna as a part of Intangible Care, the Viennese media art festival CIVA 2023 until Feb 26.