Sara Bastai creates surreal photography with artificial intelligence
Our Next Generation 2022 showcase shines a light on 22 outstanding graduates from around the globe, in seven creative fields. Here, we profile photographer Sara Bastai, a graduate of ECAL, Lausanne

Sara Bastai - Photography
Portuguese artist Sara Bastai enlists artificial intelligence as a collaborator for an unusual dialogue. In RAM_1.0, AI analyses the visual data in Bastai’s photographic memories, creating new caption-like readings of images which, in turn, inform fabricated scenes.
‘A woman holding a piece of food up to her mouth,’ reads one of the AI interpretations. Bastai’s response is a tactile image of someone with glossy skin chomping into a strawberry. ‘A group of people posing for a picture’ becomes strangely choreographed. The mundanity of the captioning is in humorous contrast to the subtle absurdity of the constructed works.
Talking of the process, Bastai explains that while AI is present as a curator, director and cataloguer, her own life and her friends’ lives are interwoven throughout. This leads to a sense that the characters depicted are elements of her, alter-egos perhaps.
Another curious element is when AI’s misinterpretation and Bastai’s memories clash. For example, the data repeatedly misidentifies pink ties and toothbrushes in her memories, but Bastai makes space for it to have this power and so depicts as it dictates.
With these reimagined memories illustrating a dialogue between real life and a computational interpretation of data, Bastai draws our attention to the limitations and possibilities of us trusting technology to catalogue and share our lives.
Dream collaborators: ‘For the past year, I have been quite intrigued by female artists such as Caroline Polachek, Oklou, Lykke Li, to name a few. I find their musical sensibility quite fascinating, yet an interesting challenge to draw upon for my practice. I would love to find ways to interpret and translate their musical sensations into visual environments.’
INFORMATION
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
As Photography Editor at Wallpaper*, Sophie Gladstone commissions across fashion, interiors, architecture, travel, art, entertaining, beauty & grooming, watches & jewellery, transport and technology. Gladstone also writes about and researches contemporary photography. Alongside her creative commissioning process, she continues her art practice as a photographer, for which she was recently nominated for the Foam Paul Huf Award. And in recognition of her work to date, listed by the British Journal of Photography as ‘One to Watch’.
-
Premium patisserie Naya is Mayfair’s latest sweet spot
Heritage meets opulence at Naya bakery in Mayfair, London. With interiors by India Hicks and Anna Goulandris, the patisserie looks good enough to eat
-
Discover midcentury treasures in Marylebone with Álvaro by Appointment
London is full of sequestered design havens, and Wallpaper* knows them all. Allow us to point you in the direction of Álvaro González’s shop window on Nottingham Place, home to a bonanza of beautiful 20th-century antiques
-
Beach chic: the all-new Citroën Ami gets an acid-tinged, open-air Buggy variant
Citroën have brought a dose of polychromatic playfulness to their new generation Ami microcar, the cult all-ages electric quadricycle that channels the spirit of the 2CV for the modern age
-
Cyprien Gaillard on chaos, reorder and excavating a Paris in flux
We interviewed French artist Cyprien Gaillard ahead of his major two-part show, ‘Humpty \ Dumpty’ at Palais de Tokyo and Lafayette Anticipations (until 8 January 2023). Through abandoned clocks, love locks and asbestos, he dissects the human obsession with structural restoration
-
Year in review: top 10 art interviews of 2022, chosen by Wallpaper* arts editor Harriet Lloyd-Smith
Top 10 art interviews of 2022, as selected by Wallpaper* arts editor Harriet Lloyd-Smith, summing up another dramatic year in the art world
-
Yayoi Kusama on love, hope and the power of art
There’s still time to see Yayoi Kusama’s major retrospective at M+, Hong Kong (until 14 May). In our interview, the legendary Japanese artist vows to continue to ‘create art to leave the message of “love forever”’
-
Antony Gormley interview: ‘We’re at more than a tipping point. We’re in a moment of utter crisis’
We visit the London studio of British sculptor Antony Gormley ahead of his major new show ‘Body Field’ at Xavier Hufkens Brussels
-
Photographer Maisie Cousins on nostalgia, impulsive making and ‘collecting useless things’
Explore the vision of British artist Maisie Cousins in ‘Through the lens’, our monthly series spotlighting photographers who are Wallpaper* contributors
-
Rashid Johnson in Menorca: a journey through migration, longing and togetherness
We visited Rashid Johnson’s Brooklyn studio ahead of the artist’s show at Hauser & Wirth Menorca, which contemplates drift – physical and emotional
-
Step inside the kaleidoscopic universe of Pipilotti Rist
Swiss artist Pipilotti Rist, who headlines Wallpaper’s November 2022 issue, has transformed the way we see, with a poetic yet playful practice spanning three decades. Here, and in a special portfolio, she reveals how she has liberated video art from its conventions, imbued the digital realm with emotion, animated public spaces, and harnessed the healing powers of colour
-
Gathering: the new Soho gallery blending art and social activism
Gathering, the newest gallery resident in London’s Soho, will focus on contemporary art exploring systemic social issues. Ahead of Tai Shani’s inaugural show, we speak to founders Alex Flick and Trinidad Fombella about their vision for the gallery