Where Art and Tech Click: Algorithmic Photography
· publication
Communications of the ACM published a feature on Alex May's Algorithmic Photography series, tracing how the work uses code to turn recorded duration into a different kind of still image.
Communications of the ACM published a feature on Alex May’s Algorithmic Photography series on 27 December 2024. Written by Mark Halper, the article introduces the work to a computing audience by explaining how recorded video, bespoke algorithms, and selective image processing are used to build still images that hold several minutes of time at once.
The piece is useful because it makes clear that this is not AI image generation presented as photography. Instead, it focuses on a process May developed through hand-coded systems, drawing out how the work sits between photographic history, computer vision, and lived perception. It also places the series within the wider practice, connecting these images to long-running questions about memory, motion, and what technology allows us to see.
The article discusses examples ranging from Brighton Pier to laboratory images made during the BOKU residency, and also notes May’s cautious engagement with AI as a collaborator rather than a neutral tool. As external coverage, it offers a strong concise introduction to the series and to the broader concerns that run across the work.
Read the full feature on the Communications of the ACM website.