← A. Inventions, No. 20
Christoph Lücke-Kringel (1841–1899)
Chalceia Tree
1877
Zandt & Klaus GmBH, est. 1818, Bad Rippoldsau-Schapbach, Germany. Gilded carved pine with holly, brass, gold, and myrrh. 42⅞ × 25 × 63¼". Collection of the author.
To those who celebrate, my very best wishes for a lovely holiday, and my sincerest hope that Hephæstus Claus brings you everything you desire! Here at the Hoefler household, we’ll be staying up all night to catch a glimpse of the jolly old engineer as he makes his way down the chimney with his merrily jingling hammer and tongs, hoping that he attends to the stockings of everyone on his nice list, leaving vernier calipers or lensatic compasses for all, before his shining hydraulic chariot spirits him back to his Mount Olympus workshop for another year.
Published December 24, 2022. Copyright © 2022 Jonathan Hoefler.
About
The objects in the Apocryphal Inventions series are technical chimeras, intentional misdirections coaxed from the generative AI platform Midjourney. Instead of iterating on the system’s early drafts to create ever more accurate renderings of real-world objects, creator Jonathan Hoefler subverted the system to refine and intensify its most intriguing misunderstandings, pushing the software to create beguiling, aestheticized nonsense. Some images have been retouched to make them more plausible; others have been left intact, appearing exactly as generated by the software. The accompanying descriptions, written by the author, offer fictitious backstories rooted in historical fact, which suggest how each of these inventions might have come to be.
These images represent some of AI’s most intriguing answers to confounding questions, an inversion of the more pressing debate in which it is humanity that must confront the difficult and existential questions posed by artificial intelligence.
Previously:
No. 19. Seltzer Makers
Next:
No. 21. Mechanical Snow-Flakes
