Zen Whispers in the Wasteland
2025
Zen Whispers in the Wasteland is a poetic video installation set in a fictional post-apocalyptic city where memory, decay, and ritual unfold through symbolic imagery and immersive sound. The work combines photography, digital interventions, and embedded text to construct a meditative emotional landscape—an echo of ecological collapse and existential fragility.
The project engages with AI not as a generator, but as a conceptual collaborator. I used an AI assistant to brainstorm poetic phrases, explore symbolism, and co-develop the logic of image–text combinations. The final images were executed manually in Photoshop, guided by this dialogue.
What emerges is a hybrid poetic system—where text fragments, glitch aesthetics, and ambient rhythms drift between sense and disintegration. The piece questions authorship, agency, and the limits of language in environments shaped by algorithmic thinking and emotional dissonance.
AI Context
Zen Whispers in the Wasteland engages with AI as a conceptual and collaborative assistant. Throughout the project, I used an AI text assistant (ChatGPT) to brainstorm poetic text, develop visual symbolism, and co-design the structure of the image–text compositions. These conversations shaped the emotional tone and philosophical core of the project.
The final text-image artworks were manually executed by me using Photoshop, guided by this dialogic exchange. The process reflects a hybrid authorship — where the AI served not as a generator of content but as a critical partner in meaning-making, metaphor, and poetic construction. The work reflects on digital language, mediated perception, and the blurred boundaries between human thought and algorithmic suggestion.
Vassilis Konstantinou
Greece
Bio
Vassilis Konstantinou (b. 1979, Athens) is a visual artist based in Athens. He studied Sport Science and Photography & Audiovisual Arts. His work has been shown at Thessaloniki Museum of Photography, Photoszene Cologne, Fringe Bath Festival, and CICA Museum (South Korea). He completed a virtual residency at SomoS Arts Berlin in 2025.