As many other visual artists, I have started to use AI as a companion for making satirical cartoons. Chat GPT provides supportive arguments both for what to draw and for the potential of cartooning as a way of subverting political discourses: 

Through their visual impact and accessible nature, satirical drawings can play a vital role in shaping public discourse and influencing political change (ChatGPT 20240424)

My presentation will deal with political and satirical cartoons as a collaborative endeavour, and a way to shape alternative stories around social institutions and political events. The starting point is a workshop held at Malmö University, fall 2023, where the participants collaboratively drew their “writing monsters”, the critical inner voices disturbing writers at work.

At present I am initiating a collaboration with a Russian (exiled) art project, the Party of the Dead. Using the structure of electoral propaganda, this party aims to give the dead their voices back, and avoid that these voices be recruited for patriotic, pro-war messages. The framework of a mock political party is interesting in its openness, allowing for many different expressions to be added within its framework: films, interventions, concerts – and social media updates.

My presentation will deal with the collaborative aspects of cartooning, and more in detail how satirical cartoons use discourses and stereotypes as a departure for rebuilding well known stories into new ones – and how the repertoire of stereotypes that ChatGPT draws from while answering queries can be a very useful guide for creating drawings.