When Guillermo del Toro compares Frankenstein to a careless tech bro and declares he'd rather die than use generative AI, you know we're in for something special. This accidental Halloween edition brings you dancing skeletons for science, pixels so tiny they've hit the absolute limit of human vision, and Indigenous artists staging unauthorized augmented reality interventions at The Met. Plus, waterfalls swallowing Chicago's skyline and real art world horror stories that'll make you appreciate how vulnerable creative work truly is.

00:00:25. Monsters, methods, and the meaning behind the making.

00:01:03 From Monsters to Mind-Bending Pixels.

00:02:29 Del Toro's Take on AI and Creative Tools.

00:04:45 The Limit of Human Vision: Tiny Pixels.

00:07:12 Truth and Perception in Photography.

00:12:11 Real-Life Art World Nightmares.

00:15:57 Creativity in Clinical Settings.

00:18:19 Indigenous Artists Reclaiming Narratives.

00:20:12 Artists Creating Their Own Reality.

00:21:13 The Intersection of Art and Technology.

Episode Highlights

• Del Toro vs. AI: The legendary filmmaker delivers a passionate statement about natural stupidity versus artificial intelligence, drawing fascinating parallels between Mary Shelley's monster and Silicon Valley's latest creations.
• The Pixel Ceiling: Swedish researchers have finally done it—created displays with pixels smaller than what human eyes can detect. But here's the twist: we're using this perfect technology to recreate the imperfect grain of analog film.
• Truth Through the Lens: Photo Oxford's new festival tackles the complex relationship between photography and reality, featuring Michael Christopher Brown's innovative use of AI to protect vulnerable subjects while telling their stories.
• Hardware for Software Problems: Meet Caira, the iPhone attachment that transforms reality faster than you never needed it to, joining the growing graveyard of AI gadgets that mistook trends for actual needs.
• Chicago Under Water: Elise Swopes spent countless hours manually compositing waterfalls over skyscrapers—work that AI can now replicate in seconds. Does the method still matter when the vision remains powerful?
• Art World Nightmares: From racist comments on anti-racism prints to paintings sliced up by jealous spouses, Scott Power's annual collection reminds us that art's real horrors are devastatingly human.
• Dancing for Science: A back pain study participant transforms clinical motion capture into a recreation of Disney's 1929 Skeleton Dance, proving creativity emerges in the most unexpected places.
• Reclaiming the Narrative: Seventeen Indigenous artists didn't wait for permission—they overlaid The Met's colonial paintings with augmented reality interventions, asking who really gets to tell American stories.

Featured Stories

Guillermo del Toro's Stand Against Generative AI - The acclaimed director makes a bold statement about choosing artistic integrity over algorithmic convenience, comparing Frankenstein to a careless tech bro and expressing his concerns about natural stupidity over artificial intelligence.

Retina E-Paper and the Limits of Human Vision - Swedish researchers achieve the theoretical maximum of display resolution with 25,000 pixels per inch, recreating Klimt's The Kiss on a surface smaller than a grain of rice. Yet we use this perfection to emulate the grain of analog photography.

Photo Oxford Festival: Truth in Photography - Under new director Katy Barron, the festival explores how photography both reveals and conceals reality, featuring Michael Christopher Brown's ethical use of AI to protect vulnerable subjects in his Cuba-Florida migration series.

Indigenous AR at The Met - On Indigenous Peoples' Day, 17 Native artists staged an unsanctioned augmented reality exhibition, overlaying colonial paintings with digital interventions that reclaim narrative space and challenge institutional storytelling.

About The Intersect

The Intersect explores the dynamic relationship between art and technology, offering nuanced analysis, case studies, and perspectives from practitioners working at this unique intersection. From analog methods to digital fabrication, generative design to interactive installations, we examine how computational tools shape creative work and how art pushes technology forward.

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