als het licht breekt

In an era where artificial intelligence is becoming ever more powerful and autonomous, the line between reality and surreality is blurring. AI is evolving rapidly, growing smarter and more complex — a ‘black box’ making decisions we cannot always understand. Yet we entrust these systems with crucial domains such as healthcare, defense, and transport. How do we ensure that this technology respects our values and does not chart its own dangerous course? This is the essence of the so-called ‘alignment problem’. As AI more convincingly imitates human choices and imagery, our perception of reality itself begins to shift. What is genuine, and what is merely a construct?

My exhibition Als Het Licht Breekt explores this fading boundary. Digital colour images appear photoshopped, yet they are not. Analogue black-and-white photographs seem pure, but have been shaped in the darkroom — altered by time, light, and chemistry. No Photoshop or AI was used; the images themselves carry the story, the doubt, and the search for something to hold onto.