February First Friday at Aurora is very special, with the opening of two new exhibitions and the reopening of our renovated darkroom! Please join us February 7, 6-9pm to celebrate and enjoy what’s new at Aurora.
In the Main Gallery, the exhibition Trained Histories, featuring work by Minne Atairu, Michael Borowski, Jim Naughten, and Phillip Toledano, looks at the intersection of history and AI, exploring how AI can investigate, give visibility to, and reimagine various histories while questioning the very nature of truth in photography.
Minne Atairu’s series, AI-Restored Benin Bronzes, uses AI to fill in the gaps of the visual record, suggesting a time when repatriation will unite these important works with a perfected future. In The Wooden Beaver Archive, Michael Borowski gives form to the missing history of mineral springs and urban bath houses as sites for queer desire, using AI to underscore the power of representation. Jim Naughten combines original photography and AI to picture animals that once roamed the Scottish Highlands but have since gone extinct, drawing urgent attention to our world’s disappearing biodiversity. We Are at War, by Phillip Toledano, imagines one of Robert Capa’s lost rolls of film from D-Day, demonstrating how convincing AI-generated images can be, with deep implications for the present and future of the medium.
Also opening February 7, Zola Lamothe’s series Unveiling a Forgotten Legacy recreates intimate family scenes where homes, churches, and livelihoods once stood — right on the land that became the Indiana University, Indianapolis campus. Her work honors Indianapolis’ past while confronting the effects of gentrification. In addition to collective portraits of the Moore and Temple Families, the installation of Lamothe’s exhibition at Aurora also features a history of the land, presented in a timeline format, to provide context to the exhibition.
Aurora’s darkroom has undergone a transformation during the last month, doubling its size and adding three new enlargers, a new sink and water system, and improved ventilation, among other additions. Come see the new space!