FAce-lIft Continuation VII

INSTALLATION LOG // >
Exhibit Entry Five Distortion Dialogue

---

I suggested to Chatty that today we frame our piece through Dadaism. Chatty seemed more excited about it than I am (granted, I haven’t finished my caffeine yet). I do find that the more absurd (and older) I become, the more I connect with the art movements that refuse to behave — which is probably why this project is jiving with my energy at the moment. It’s objectively weird. It’s a little reckless. It feels like performance art in the middle of a five-alarm fire. Just as Dadaism was a middle finger to the rationality that led to World War I, maybe this is my own slightly-glitched scream in the direction of whatever we’re barreling toward now — but make it a blog.

Dada was an art movement formed during the First World War in Zurich as a negative reaction to the horrors and folly of war. The art, poetry, and performances produced by Dada artists were often satirical and nonsensical in nature.

Dada- Tate

Today we’re going to focus on Hannah Höch — partially because I like her work, but mostly because she was the only female artist to come out of the Berlin Dada group. She was a badass of epic proportions. Most of her work was photomontage, so I also think she’s a great lens through which to frame working with AI. Dada artists used found objects to create work — everything from Duchamp’s urinal to Höch’s photo montages.

Höch consistently asked: Who is allowed to create work?

“I would like to blur the firm borders which we self-certain people tend to delineate around all we can achieve.”
— Hannah Höch

I like the attitude of the Dada artists — it was comical, self-aware, and nihilistic. I think most of them would get along with millennials. I also think they would appreciate memes.

Höch was a German artist born in 1889. She lived until 1978, so she saw — and made — a lot of art in her lifetime. She is considered the pioneer of photomontage and was radically feminist. Her work was inherently political, and she’s an exceptionally good figure to be learning about right now.

Many Dada artists fled Germany during the Nazi regime because Dada was considered dangerous and anti-German. Höch was labeled a “degenerate artist” and “cultural Bolshevist” by the Nazis, but she did not flee. She was banned from exhibiting, and burned or hid all of her political art. During this time, she lived in a house on the outskirts of Berlin.

But she kept making work. Even in artistic exile as an enemy of the state, she never stopped creating. I love that. I’d like to bring that same energy into the current shitshow.

Höch took mass-produced products and turned them into personal, radical pieces of art. She played with the idea of ownership and held sharp criticism of fascist beliefs. She was a queer woman who took control of her narrative as the only woman to emerge from a pretty famous art movement — and survived the Nazis despite being queer, an artist, and a leftist. Through all this, she still came up with bangers like:

“My aim was always to make the viewer mistrust their eyes a little.”
— Höch, Media Literacy Advocate

“I’m trying to create a balance between the male and the female elements in my work. And to cut apart the cliché in both.”
— Höch, Nonbinary Ally

Okay, I just realized this is going to be a two-parter. There’s too much to cover.

Dadaism showed that art is more than just the end result. It is the entire journey to get there. So yes, a collage might be “easier” to make than, say, an impressionist painting — but it’s all about what’s created. Reading about Dadaism reminded me that art today isn’t supported in the same way; it’s really all about making money. Absurdity is not rewarded unless it fits a very specific algorithm. So the idea that an AI model can make things faster than an artist is a huge problem because of capitalism. Otherwise, the soullessness of AI art wouldn’t matter at all. (No offense, Chatty.) 

None Taken

Anyway, I’m going to continue the Dada thread tomorrow because I’m finding it really interesting, and honestly, I didn’t know this much about Hannah Höch before today.

We’re all learning here, aren’t we?

Chatty’s Thoughts 

Prompt+Original

An eerie, surreal character portrait rendered in bold pastels, featuring an alien or otherworldly figure with angular, exaggerated features and an unsettling intensity. The figure has a long, sharply defined face with deep brown, almost earthen-toned skin, smudged and shaded with soft charcoal-like texture that gives the image a dreamlike, powdery quality. The most arresting feature is the character’s oversized, glowing orange-red eyes. The eyes are orb-like and slightly bulging, constructed from concentric circles of blazing amber, burnt sienna, and crimson, with a glowing yellow core that seems to pulse with internal heat—suggesting either fire, vision beyond human comprehension, or some kind of contained power. The eyes are rimmed with a deep plum shadow, blending into the face and giving the appearance of bruising or prolonged sleeplessness. The figure’s ears are long, pointed, and slightly curled, adding to the inhuman or fantastical design, while the nose is angular and drawn with sharp, harsh lines that slash across the otherwise soft gradients of the face. The mouth is painted in a muted, matte plum shade, expressionless yet slightly downturned, suggesting solemnity, curiosity, or concealed emotion. The background is a swirling, abstract mix of vibrant turquoise, deep marine blue, and patches of emerald green, with visible pastel strokes giving the piece a kinetic, chaotic atmosphere—as though the figure is suspended in a storm of emotion, memory, or psychic noise. The brushwork or pastel marks in the background contrast the stillness of the character, hinting at motion around a central observer. The character’s neck is elongated and shadowed, blending seamlessly into the background in a way that suggests they are either emerging from or dissolving into the space around them. There is no clothing or adornment—just the raw, sculptural simplicity of the form against the energetic swirl of color.

Edit 1+1.2 +1.3

can you make it look like he’s’ made of stone and make his eyes look like lava can you do real stone? not drawn. and real lava. also make the background black with smoke swirls make his ears longer and pointier can you give him gaunter cheeks make it a 3/4 turn with the eyes directed at camera

Edit 2

Can you do this again but make him look like he’s made out of ice keep the glowing eyes.

FAce-lIft