Böcker av Rosemary Lee

Algorithm, Image, Art examines the history, processes, and ideas behind visual culture. Machine learning algorithms now have a pervasive influence on the aesthetics and meaning of images. But while novel in some respects, these recent developments are connected to much earlier, even analog, geometrical, optical, and procedural methods. This book looks at how the production of images in terms of algorithmic instructions has shaped images and art, as well as the values used to assess them. It draws connections between the algorithmic forms of visual media we are familiar with today and the precursors from which they evolved.

How well do you know Europe? Probably most of us have favourite memories ... perhaps a secret sandy beach, an awe-inspiring palace, a remote mountain meadow or an exhilarating fiesta? This is such a varied continent, with a huge range of landscapes and centuries of history - can anyone claim to know it intimately? For over 50 years, I have been visiting Europe, both its familiar tourist haunts and its hidden corners - sometimes as a tourist myself, or visiting friends ... but especially through 25 years of escorting coach tours around the continent. My memories include architectural wonders and magnificent scenery, but also the complicated procedures necessary to guide a group to enjoy them. Certain places remain in my memory only because of situations or events which took place there - some challenging (what would you do, if a guest died on your coach?)and some amusing (could you explain to a group of ladies, how to use a French toilet?). Yet I have been privileged to personally experience huge changes over the years ... as Central European countries broke free from the communist yoke to reclaim their independence ... as divided Germany was reunified ... as Yugoslavia was torn apart by earthquake and war. Come and travel with me through the countries of Europe, as I have known them!

What a wonderful world we live in! And how lucky I am to have seen so much of it - not just once but again and again, through the pages of my diaries. Come with me as I struggle once more to the foot of Mount Everest:"I am so dizzy I can hardly stand, my head throbs, my legs are weak, my lungs tight. Others pass me by, but I can go no faster. Should I give up? But ahead lies Everest, the culmination of all these weeks of walking." Walk with me beneath the golden arcades of Syria's Palmyra, sadly now sacrificed to war. Scramble to the summit of Ayers Rock and discover tiny shrimps, miraculously brought to life by rain after years of waiting in the dust. Negotiate the steep ramps of China's Great Wall in the footsteps of ancient armies, ever watchful for sudden attack. Giggle at the mating dance of Blue-foot Boobies in the Galapagos. Thrill to the howl of wolves in Canadian forests:"I am roused by the distant song of wolves, rising and falling in concert. The sound ceases, then recommences nearer to our campsite, ceases again, then at 3am swells to full volume - rising and falling in rhythms as complex as any opera chorus. Sleep in a Thai headman's stilt home, a cool vaulted cavern in Cappadocia or a tent on an Omani beach, with scuttling ghost crabs as neighbours. Come and join me in my travels!