Recently, I attended a workshop titled Troubling AI organised by a team at King’s College which focused on screenshots that recorded AI interactions. It was an interesting workshop and worth doing, for sure. But the most compelling aspect from my perspective was not the focus on AI but rather the recognition of value in the modest and quotidian screenshot. I have included screenshots in my work before, but never as the entire focus, and I think I have missed something. There is a magazine made from screenshots called SCRNSHT, but it’s fashion-focused, which wouldn’t be mine.
Following the workshop, I was prompted to collate some of my favourite screenshots; often snaps of text that I seek out again and again using the search facility in my Photo app, sometimes to back up arguments or because I can’t quite recall what was said, or because someone else references a theory or work of art that relates. I frequently, perhaps with too much gusto and urgency, force these screenshots onto collaborators or share via Stories on Instagram. Sometimes they are just images that appeal to me, much like a flame appeals to a moth, no doubt. These less studious examples may be shared with friends, but more often, I bet they just sit in pixel darkness. Perhaps they deserve more attention! Perhaps not.
Regardless, here are a few that would be grubby and torn if printed on paper rather than saved as compressed pixels in the cloud to be summoned into view when I need them (perhaps the start of an editing/cataloguing process?)
Apart from one which is from The SCUM Manifesto by Valerie Solanas, all the texts below should be recognisable by their title included, even if only partially, in the shot.
