Both Sharon Hayes’s "In the Near Future" (2005-2009) and Catherine Opie’s photographs of assemblies and rallies (2007—) take protest as a topic of investigation. Hayes enacts solo protests in urban centers and documents her project’s iterations; Opie attends organized marches and demonstrations and photographs the gathered crowds. Yet while both projects perform or picture protest in the present-day, neither is wholly of this moment. In her staged actions, Hayes holds the signs and slogans of earlier social movements, and both she and Opie create and consider the images they capture in relation to experiences and visual records which predate them. This thesis considers the ways in which expectations and desires for present and future moments are rooted in understandings of social or political pasts, investigating the work of Hayes and Opie alongside the events of Occupy Wall Street and the histories of the movements these artists reference: ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), Queer Nation, and the Memphis Sanitation Strike of 1968. Focusing on the role of the documentary image in the creation and remembrance of historical events, the paper looks at how the longing to reinhabit a pictured past becomes incorporated within a desire to feel historical, and how fantasies of the past and future are absorbed into the charged space of present. Concentrating first on this temporal rearrangement (referred to by Hayes as an “unspooling of history”) and turning next to the reengagement and embodiment of symbolic imagery, this thesis explores how works by Hayes and Opie emphasize disappointment in the present scene while simultaneously endeavoring to establish alternative spaces of social and political possibility—both new sites and reimagined worlds of belonging. / text

The growing importance of Creative AI and its uncertain impact on people necessitates more research. Current studies mainly focus on technical aspects, neglecting consumer perspectives. This study seeks to explore consumer perceptions of Creative AI in consumer media and introduces speculative labeling as a potential solution to empower consumer choice. Through Content Analysis of 32 Creative AI tools and a survey of 40 respondents, insights on AI’s value, potential job displacement, and the need for AI usage disclosure emerged. These findings informed a workshop with 7 participants using the newly proposed N-Speculation method and uncovered consumers’ bias against AI but indifference toward creators. Factors like cost, quality, and the creator (AI or Human) affect purchase decisions. Consumers favor labeling with clear pictograms and detailed AI usage information. These findings advance our understanding of consumer preferences and highlight the need for more consumer-centric Creative AI research. This research underscores the importance of education, addressing bias, and supporting the growth of Creative AI for all stakeholders / Den ökande betydelsen av Kreativ AI och dess osäkra inverkan på människor kräver ytterligare forskning. Nuvarande studier fokuserar främst på tekniska aspekter och försummar konsumentperspektivet. Denna studie syftar till att utforska konsumentens uppfattning av Kreativ AI i konsumentmedier och presenterar spekulativa märkningar som en potentiell lösning för att stärka konsumentens val. Genom innehållsanalys av 32 Kreativ AI-verktyg och en enkät bland 40 respondenter framkom insikter om Kreativ AI:s värde, potentiell arbetsdislokation och behovet av information om AI-användning. Dessa resultat utgjorde grunden för en workshop med 7 deltagare som använde den nyligen föreslagna N-Speculation-metoden och avslöjade konsumentens fördomar mot AI men likgiltighet gentemot skapare. Faktorer som kostnad, kvalitet och skapare (AI eller människa) påverkar köpbesluten. Konsumenten föredrar märkningar med tydliga piktogram och detaljerad information om AI-användningen. Dessa resultat fördjupar vår förståelse av konsumentpreferenser och understryker behovet av mer konsumentcentrerad forskning om Kreativ AI. Denna forskning betonar betydelsen av utbildning, att hantera fördomar och att stödja tillväxten av Kreativ AI för alla intressenter