MacDonaldStrand

04/11/2024

This Sunday 10th November, MacDonaldStrand will give a talk about their practice and False Flags, their most recent installation as part of Photo Fringe 2024. The talk will be in The White Room at Phoenix Art Space, Brighton from 11am and Gallery DODO will be open for half an hour before and after the talk to view the current work.

19/08/2024

Happy World Photography Day from all at MacDonaldStrand. Image from the MacDonaldStrand project Throwing Analogue Cameras at the Studio Wall and Recording the Impact Digitally, 2014.

10/08/2024

An unexpected return of a few copies of Another Fu***ng Photobook. This is from the 'Down Fu***ng Under' edition in green on yellow. The edition was only made as 10 copies, so clearly not to the Australian market's taste. They are on sale on the MacDonaldStrand site - link in bio. ***ngphotobook

02/02/2024

Delighted to be a part of play doh journey by writing the introduction text for her new book ‘ Whilst the World Sleeps ‘ . Sending Eleanor all our play doh wishes for this momentous publication !!

withregram • BOOK NEWS! ‘Whilst the world sleeps’ my new book will be published next month by

The images in ‘Whilst the world sleeps’ were created late at night using Play-Doh, an empty wine bottle as rolling pin, a knife and a chopping board. The book will contain over 50 images from the archive of nearly 400 I have created since the project began in 2013 - basically, all my favourites and I hope some of yours too!

The cover image is by who along with was the inspiration for the project at a pub quiz back in the day as . It was only fitting that they write the essay for the book.

You can pre-order the book at the link in my bio at a special pre-publication price. We are doing a Special Edition also which includes a print of the June Bug photograph by Gordon Parks - shown here on the second slide.

22/01/2024

MacDonaldStrands The Automata Chronicles :The Age of the Ghostwriter and Rings ( a coffee table book ) is available alongside artist publications from at new bookshop in Houtkopersdwarsstraar , 1011 NS Amsterdam .

21/01/2024

All good things have to come to an end :(

10/01/2024

Last days of the show : The Automata Chronicles: The Age of Ghostwriter .parrotta closing 20th January . If in Cologne go take a look . For further info about the project you can@buy the book from our site for just £15 link in bio .

19/12/2023

MacDonaldStrand talk to Matthew Webb Director for Panorama Journal about their publication, The Automata Chronicles: The Age of Ghostwriters.

MacDonaldStrand's latest project – a self-published photobook 'The Automata Chronicles: The Age of Ghostwriters' – is a contemporary AI-generated fable telling the rise of artificially intelligent machines, and in so doing replacing one of our most "cherished abilities: the art of writing." In c...

17/12/2023

Celebrating one of MacDonaldStrands finest artworks , Ms Dolly MacDonald who is 19yrs today !! Happy Birthday may we all strive to be as kind and sensitive and lovely as you . x

13/12/2023

Christmas Print Sale for one week only starting today !!🎄🎉MacDonaldStrand are offering two prints from the series ‘Automata Chronicles: The Age of the Ghostwriters ‘

16x12inch edition of 25 signed and numbered £200 ( original price £250)

12x9.5 inches edition of 25 signed and number £150 ( original price £200)

Both works are currently being shown with .parrotta, Cologne as part of a larger series - The Automata Chronicles: The Age of the Ghostwriters.

Each image is available in both 16x12inch and 12x9.5inch sizes. All are made in a signed and numbered edition of 25 as archival Giclée prints on Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308gsm. On sale from 13th December - 20th December 2023. Visit the MacDonaldStrand store . https://www.macdonaldstrand.co.uk/store

🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

23/11/2023

The book for baristas have been printing a small batch of Rings books. This is a detail of the test printing sheet. For more information about this book and other projects, visit out site. Link where you would expect it…

20/11/2023

The Automata Chronicles: The Age of Ghostwriters
The starting point for this project was the simple prompt to an online generative AI text programme, asking it to imagine ‘A dystopian world, where AI is trusted to write books.’ The resulting text, produced in seconds by the AI machine, is the story of a world in which humans are pushed aside, following a lazy capitulation to GPT. In this text we see the demise of the humans, followed by an enlightenment and subsequent revolution against the machines, and of course triumph. It follows the understandable and often-explored theme of peoples fight for freedom from technology - a fight for the ‘human spirit and soul’ over cold metal and algorithm.

This text is only a reflection of a long-held fear of machines taking over - a fear that seems to have peaked in recent months with the rapid rise of availability of AI tools. But the text also seems to reflect an uncertainty within the AI itself - as if it understands the concern of this move towards self-aware machines. It is like the AI is having an existential crisis, like Frankenstein’s Monster unable to understand it’s own existence or purpose.

The images made using the chapter headings as prompts are extremely literal. But hidden in these images are the fragments of our digital legacy. Initially, it is simple to spot the influence of 19th and 20th century photographic history, from Man Ray to Lewis Hine, as well as classic movie imaginations of self-aware automaton like Metropolis or Blade Runner. But there are also the deeper-mined fragments of people - their lips, eyes and hands. These are the fragments of us and of our loved ones, and the legacy of our unknowing work for the machines. These images of ‘people’ are us, but not; human.

We are a duo who make work in response to photographic history, politics and practice. The form of the project is always matched to the area of photographic discourse we are exploring and trying to understand - here it is AI. We produce works in order to disseminate this work as widely as possible, most often at prices which are affordable to as many people as possible. However, their low price is no reflection of their value.

17/11/2023

Opening tonight . .parrotta

The Automata Chronicles: The Age of the Ghostwriters - A project ‘by’ MacDonaldStrand on view in Cologne

“Imagine a dystopian world, where AI is trusted to write books.”

The Automata Chronicles: The Age of Ghostwriters is a MacDonaldStrand project. (Published as a book and in prints)

MacDonaldStrand did not write this text or construct these images - everything here has been made using generative AI. MacDonaldStrand authored the initial prompt to an on- line text generator, asking it to imagine ‘A dystopian world, where AI is trusted to write books.’ The output was then transported by MacDonaldStrand to an AI image generator, which was asked to produce black and white images from the resulting text. The story and illustrations here are made up of these simple machine to human - human to machine interactions and processes. This dialogue with the machine seems to reflect and underscore a confusion and concern shared by both human beings and AI technology, about the future of creativity.

Image: Ghostwirters #1-28, from the series The Automata Chronicales - The Age of Gosthwriters, Archival ink Giclée on Hahnemühle Photorag paper with Hahnemühle protective coating, 30.5 x 25,4 cm / 40,6 x 30,5 cm.

17/11/2023

The Automata Chronicles: The Age of the Ghostwriters
Opens tonight at Parrotta Contemporary, Cologne.

“Imagine a dystopian world, where AI is trusted to write books.”

MacDonaldStrand did not write this text or construct these images - everything here has been made using generative AI. MacDonaldStrand authored the initial prompt to an online text generator, asking it to imagine ‘A dystopian world, where AI is trusted to write books.’ The output was then transported by MacDonaldStrand to an AI image generator, which was asked to produce black-and-white images from the resulting text. The story and illustrations here are made up of these simple machine-to-human-human-to-machine interactions and processes. This dialogue with the machine seems to reflect and underscore a confusion and concern shared by both human beings and AI technology, about the future of creativity.

Image: Ghostwriters #1-28, from the series The Automata Chronicles- The Age of Ghostwriters, Archival ink Giclée on Hahnemühle Photorag paper with Hahnemühle protective coating, 30.5 x 25,4 cm / 40,6 x 30,5 cm.

12/11/2023

Last chance to purchase The Automata Chronicles: The Age of Ghostwriters at the ABC website able

MacDonaldStrand are showcasing their latest publication,The Automata Chronicles: The Age of Ghostwriters, the very last copies of Another Fu***ng Photobook (the fu***ng money-grubber edition), the aromatic coffee table book Rings and the timely Opinion Dividers for your lever arch files.

The Automata Chronicles: The Age of Ghostwriters is also available in Paris Photo on the Parrotta Contemporary booth A26. Parrotta Contemporary will also be exhibiting The Automata Chronicles: The Age of Ghostwriters in their Cologne gallery from the 17th November.

08/11/2023

OFF PRINT 2023
ABC Table
09.11.2023


MacDonaldStrand are showcasing their latest publication,The Automata Chronicles: The Age of Ghostwriters, the very last copies of Another Fu***ng Photobook (the fu***ng money-grubber edition), the aromatic coffee table book Rings and the timely Opinion Dividers for your lever arch files.

The Automata Chronicles: The Age of Ghostwriters is also available in Paris Photo on the Parrotta Contemporary booth A26. Parrotta Contemporary will also be exhibiting The Automata Chronicles: The Age of Ghostwriters in their Cologne gallery from the 17th November.
parrotta

02/11/2023

New MacDonaldStrand publication. The Automata Chronicles: The Age of the Ghostwriters £15 edition of 50. To purchase and for further information please visit the MacDonaldStrand store or visit the table at Off Print.

The Automata Chronicles: The Age of Ghostwriters is a MacDonaldStrand project.
MacDonaldStrand did not write this text or construct these images - everything here has been made using generative AI. MacDonaldStrand authored the initial prompt to an on- line text generator, asking it to imagine ‘A dystopian world, where AI is trusted to write books.’ The output was then transported by MacDonaldStrand to an AI image generator, which was asked to produce black and white images from the resulting text. The story and illustrations here are made up of these simple machine to human - human to machine interactions and processes. This dialogue with the machine seems to reflect and underscore a confusion and concern shared by both human beings and AI technology, about the future of creativity.

29/09/2023

To celebrate international coffee day why not purchase Rings from website !!
www.MacDonaldStrand.co.uk
Link in bio !

£15.00
Rings (a coffee table book) is a handmade 105x147.5mm book. This book has a letterpress cover and is printed throughout using fresh coffee. The books included a letterpress printed bookmark. Each book is unique and signed in the back cover by MacDonaldStrand.