Algorithmic Postmemory in Ibero-American Critical Art: Case Studies and Emerging Concepts on Artificial Intelligence and Visual Memory

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5294/pacla.2026.29.1.1

Keywords:

Generative artificial intelligence, imagery, postmemory, artistic-critical appropriation, affective memory, visual studies, Ibero-America

Abstract

This study examines the role of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in the artistic-critical production of images as a tool for re-signifying memory. Grounded in a theoretical framework grounded in visual studies, emerging concepts around generative imagery and their application in postmemory practices are analyzed. The research focuses on significant cases from the Ibero-American context (Un archivo queer inexistente [2022], Exhumar la memor.IA [2023], IAbuelas [2023], Synthetic Memories [2023], Con la carne desnuda [2024]), which explore how these new forms of visual production intervene in the construction, deconstruction, and critical reflection of affective, political, and collective memory. The study reveals the emergence of new conceptual frameworks for theorizing the image in the advent of generative AI, specifically in the processes of construction and deconstruction of fractured memory.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Allyn, B. (2024, 18 de marzo). Google races to find a solution after AI generator Gemini misses the mark. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2024/03/18/1239107313/google-races-to-find-a-solution-after-ai-generator-gemini-misses-the-mark

Anthropic. (2025). Claude 4.5 Sonnet [large language model]. https://www.anthropic.com/claude

Assmann, A. (2008). Canon and archive. En A. Erll y A. Nünning (eds.), Cultural memory studies: An international and interdisciplinary handbook (pp. 97-107). Walter de Gruyter.

Assmann, A. (2009). Memory, individual and collective. En R. E. Goodin y C. Tilly (eds.), The Oxford handbook of contextual political analysis (pp. 210-224). Oxford University Press.

Bañuelos Capistrán, J. (2008). Fotomontaje. Cátedra.

Bañuelos Capistrán, J. (2024). Visual rhetoric and symbolic imaginaries from artificial intelligence on the U.S.-Mexico border. En R. Rocha y M. Castro (eds.), Digital culture and the U.S.-Mexico border rhetorics on human mobility (pp. 152-166). Routledge.

Bañuelos Capistrán, J., Zavala Scherer, D. y Lugo Rodríguez, N. (2025). Art, community and AI: Images for an affective memory. Frontiers in Communication, 10, 1567694. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2025.1567694

Barthes, R. (1989). La cámara lúcida: Nota sobre la fotografía. Paidós.

Belk, R. W. (2013). Extended self in a digital world. Journal of Consumer Research, 40(3), 477-500. https://doi.org/10.1086/671052

Bowen, G. A. (2009). Document analysis as a qualitative research method. Qualitative Research Journal, 9(2), 27-40. https://doi.org/10.3316/QRJ0902027

Braun, V. y Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa

Buolamwini, J. y Gebru, T. (2018). Gender shades: Intersectional accuracy disparities in commercial gender classification. Proceedings of Machine Learning Research, 81, 1-15. https://proceedings.mlr.press/v81/buolamwini18a/buolamwini18a.pdf

Burton, A. (ed.) (2006). Archive stories: Facts, fictions, and the writing of history. Duke University Press.

Center for Democracy and Technology. (2025, 19 de agosto). Anti-Woke AI is a technical mirage. https://cdt.org/insights/anti-woke-ai-is-a-technical-mirage/

Charmaz, K. (2006). Constructing grounded theory: A practical guide through qualitative analysis. Sage.

Corbin, J. y Strauss, A. (2008). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory (3.ª ed.). Sage.

Criales, J. P. (2023, 30 de julio). La inteligencia artificial imagina cómo se verían hoy los bebés robados por la dictadura argentina. El País. https://elpais.com/argentina/2023-07-30/la-inteligencia-artificial-imagina-como-se-verian-hoy-los-bebes-robados-por-la-dictadura-argentina.html

Del Castillo, C. (2024, 16 de mayo). Inteligencia artificial contra el olvido: Un proyecto crea “recuerdos sintéticos” para personas que pierden la memoria. elDiario.es. https://www.eldiario.es/tecnologia/inteligencia-artificial-olvido-proyecto-crea-recuerdos-sinteticos-personas-pierden-memoria_1_11365104.html

Déotte, J.-L. (2012). ¿Qué es un aparato estético? Metales Pesados.

Derrida, J. (1997). Mal de archivo: Una impresión freudiana. Trotta.

Didi-Huberman, G. (2012). Arde la imagen. Ediciones Ve.

Domestic Data Streamers. (2024). Synthetic Memories: Research. https://www.syntheticmemories.net/research/

Doton, L. (2023, 14 de abril). “It’s going to destroy jobs”: When an AI image won a photo contest, its human refused the award. Salon. https://www.salon.com/2023/04/22/boris-eldagsen-ai-photo-artist-dall-e/

Dubois, P. (1986). El acto fotográfico: De la representación a la recepción. Paidós.

Erll, A. (2021). Memory in culture. Palgrave Macmillan.

Erll, A., Nünning, A. y Rigney, A. (eds.) (2009). Mediation, remediation, and the dynamics of cultural memory. Walter de Gruyter.

Esto es ¡FA! (2023, 19 de julio). @IABUELAS, la IA al servicio de la memoria [video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKnuWzx9Wik

Eyman, D. (2015). Digital rhetoric: Theory, method, practice. University of Michigan Press.

Farocki, H. (2013). Desconfiar de las imágenes. Caja Negra.

Felifa. (2023). Con la carne desnuda 1973. 1985. Julio Pereira. https://felifa.com.ar/libro.php?id=41

Felipe Rivas San Martín [@feliperivassanmartin]. (2024, 10 de diciembre). Un archivo inexistente CVIII Imagen producida con modelo generativo [fotografía]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/DDZCgeyOw51/

Flick, U. (2004). Triangulation in qualitative research. En U. Flick, E. von Kardorff y I. Steinke (eds.), A companion to qualitative research (pp. 178-183). Sage.

Flick, U. (2007). Designing qualitative research. Sage.

Flusser, V. (2006). Towards a philosophy of photography (A. Mathews, trad.). Reaktion Books.

Flusser, V. (2011). Into the universe of technical images (N. A. Roth, trad.). University of Minnesota Press.

Gadamer, H.-G. (1977). Philosophical hermeneutics (D. E. Linge, trad.). University of California Press.

García, P. (2023). Capturing the mind’s eye: How a Barcelona-based studio is exploring the intersection of memory, art, and technology. The Atlantic Dialogues, 1, 45-62.

Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures. Basic Books.

Glaser, B. G. y Strauss, A. L. (1995). The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research. Aldine.

Góchez, A. (2023, 13 de febrero). Artista chileno usa inteligencia artificial para crear obras: ¿Cómo logró hacerlo? La Razón. https://www.razon.com.mx/cultura/2023/02/13/artista-chileno-usa-inteligencia-artificial-para-crear-obras-como-logro-hacerlo/

Guba, E. G. y Lincoln, Y. S. (1989). Fourth generation evaluation. Sage.

Habermas, J. (1988). La lógica de las ciencias sociales. Tecnos.

Hirsch, M. (2012). The generation of postmemory: Writing and visual culture after the Holocaust. Columbia University Press.

Hodgson, J. (2019). Post-digital rhetoric and the new aesthetic. The Ohio State University Press.

IAbuelas [@iabuelas] (2023). Proyecto artístico no oficial. Se propone colaborar con la búsqueda de @abuelasdifusion [perfil]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/iabuelas/

Jaubert, A. (1989). Making people disappear: An amazing chronicle of photographic deception. Potomac Books Inc.

Julio Pereira Arbiza [@juliopereira.uy]. (2023, 7 de noviembre de). Capítulo #1 “Con la carne desnuda 1973-1985” @maria_del_pilar_diariosintimos [reel]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/juliopereira.uy/reel/CzVvPd0g5c6/

MacMasters, M. (2023, 22 de septiembre). Proyecto con IA gana uno de los premios de 20 Bienal del Centro de la Imagen. La Jornada. https://www.jornada.com.mx/noticia/2023/09/22/cultura/proyecto-con-ia-gana-uno-de-los-premios-de-20-bienal-del-centro-de-la-imagen-1981

Manovich, L. y Arielli, E. (2021). Artificial aesthetics: A critical guide to AI, media and design. http://manovich.net/index.php/projects/artificial-aesthetics

Martín Prada, J. (2025). AI-based generative image production systems in the artistic problematisation of the past: The thematisation of memory and temporality in “AI art”. AI & Society, 40(5), 3271-3282. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-024-02163-z

Martínez, V. (2005). Tiempos de dictadura: Hechos, voces, documentos. La represión y la resistencia día a día. Ediciones de la Banda Oriental.

Mitchell, M., Wu, S., Zaldivar, A., Barnes, P., Vasserman, L., Hutchinson, B., Spitzer, E., Raji, I. D. y Gebru, T. (2019). Model cards for model reporting. En Proceedings of the Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (pp. 220-229). Accountability, and Transparency. https://doi.org/10.1145/3287560.3287596

Mitchell, W. J. T. (2005). What do pictures want? The lives and loves of images. University of Chicago Press.

Morris, C. E. y Rawson, K. J. (2013). Queer archives/archival queers. En M. Ballif (ed.), Theorizing histories of rhetoric (pp. 74-89). Southern Illinois University Press.

Noble, S. U. (2018). Algorithms of oppression: How search engines reinforce racism. New York University Press.

Pardo, L. (2024, 31 de octubre). El pasado compartido. La Tempestad. https://www.latempestad.mx/rogelio-septimo-exhumar-la-memor-ia-visiones-del-lago/

Parlamento del Uruguay. (s. f.). Con la carne desnuda: Diarios de María del Pilar 1973-1985 / Julio Pereira. https://pmb.parlamento.gub.uy/pmb/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=118927

Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods (3.ª ed.). Sage.

Penabad-Camacho, L., Morera-Castro, M. y Penabad-Camacho, M. A. (2024). Guía para uso y reporte de inteligencia artificial en revistas científico-académicas. Revista Electrónica Educare, 28(1), 1-41. https://doi.org/10.15359/ree.28-S.19830

Pereira, J. (2024). Con la carne desnuda: Diarios de María del Pilar, 1973-1985. Lapsus Multimedia.

Piredda, G. (2020). What is an affective artifact? A further development in situated affectivity. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 19, 549-567. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11097-019-09628-3

Prior, L. (2003). Using documents in social research. Sage.

Rancière, J. (2009). El reparto de lo sensible: Estética y política (C. Durán, trad.). LOM.

Richard, N. (1994). La insubordinación de los signos: Cambio político, transformaciones culturales y poéticas de la crisis. Cuarto Propio.

Richard, N. (2011). Lo político en el arte: Arte, política e instituciones. Instituto Hemisférico. https://hemisphericinstitute.org/es/emisferica-62/6-2-essays/e62-ensayo-lo-politico-en-el-arte-arte-politica-e-instituciones.html

Ricoeur, P. (2002). Del texto a la acción: Ensayos de hermenéutica (vol. 2). Fondo de Cultura Económica.

Rivas San Martín, F. (2022). Una genealogía queer de los algoritmos computacionales [tesis doctoral, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia]. https://riunet.upv.es/bitstreams/7989aa47-509a-4093-9544-6fd2983a46cc/download

Rivas San Martín, F. (2024). Un archivo queer inexistente. Agenda Kuir, 11, 160-167.

Robertson, A. (2024, 21 de febrero). Google apologizes for ‘missing the mark’ after Gemini generated racially diverse Nazis. The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/21/24079371/google-ai-gemini-generative-inaccurate-historical

Rogelio Séptimo. (2023, 15 de agosto). Exhumar la memor.IA. https://www.rogelioseptimo.com/exhumar-la-memor-ia/

Rose, G. (2016). Visual methodologies: An introduction to researching with visual materials (4.ª ed.). Sage.

Santoriello, S. C. (2025). Whose reality? Consent boundaries and free speech arguments in the politics of generative AI. Politikon: The IAPSS Journal of Political Science, 59(2), 29-56. https://doi.org/10.22151/politikon.42025.2

Schafer, D., Garbero, V., Enrico, J. y Liponetzky, T. (2020). Fotografía y memoria: Huellas del pasado, lecturas desde el presente. Centro de Estudios Avanzados.

Shobeiri, A. y Westgeest, H. (eds.) (2024). Virtual photography: Artificial intelligence, in-game, and extended reality. transcript Verlag.

Simondon, G. (2007). El modo de existencia de los objetos técnicos. Prometeo.

Stake, R. E. (2006). Multiple case study analysis. Guilford Press.

StgoFoto. (2024, 8 de agosto). Lanzamiento libro “Con la carne desnuda: Diarios íntimos de María del Pilar 1973-1985” [video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKWrVpquUPA&t=1508s

Tracy, S. J. (2010). Qualitative quality: Eight “big-tent” criteria for excellent qualitative research. Qualitative Inquiry, 16(10), 837-851. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800410383121

Vallejo, M. (2023, 31 de julio). IAbuelas: Cómo imaginar el rostro de un desaparecido. Vist Projects. https://vistprojects.com/iabuelas-como-imaginar-el-rostro-de-un-desaparecido/

Van Dijck, J. (2007). Mediated memories in the digital age. Stanford University Press.

Wilde, L. R. (2023). Generative imagery as media form and research field: Introduction to a new paradigm. Image, 19(1), 6-33. https://mediarep.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/16253903-d832-4a88-8fd8-ffc07b9066ab/content

Yin, R. K. (2009). Case study research: Design and methods (4.ª ed.). Sage.

Zappen, J. P. (2005). Digital rhetoric: Toward an integrated theory. Technical Communication Quarterly, 14(3), 319-325. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15427625tcq1403_10

Zepeda, L. (2018). Queering the archive: Transforming the archival process. disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory, 27(1), 17-30. https://doi.org/10.13023/disclosure.27.14

Zylinska, J. (2023). The perception machine: Our photographic future between the eye and AI. MIT Press.

Published

2026-04-21

How to Cite

Bañuelos Capistrán, J. (2026). Algorithmic Postmemory in Ibero-American Critical Art: Case Studies and Emerging Concepts on Artificial Intelligence and Visual Memory. Palabra Clave, 29(1), e2911. https://doi.org/10.5294/pacla.2026.29.1.1

Issue

Section

Articles