(Jonathan Ulman, 2024)
In the series “Snare Drums Reimagined,” percussionist Jonathan Ulman uses AI image generation to create snare drums from surprising and improbable materials – bricks, a television set, a quilt, for example. The images exemplify the photorealism of which generative AI is capable, presenting fantastical iterations on the snare drum as a musical instrument.
Ulman created an earlier series, “Snare Scapes,” by making a paper snare stencil and walking around the city of Boston, photographing the stencil on different backgrounds. It is a lo tech approach with a similarly wondrous result, yielding improbable yet realistic-looking snare drums. If “Snare Drums Reimagined” exemplifies the capacity of generative AI to turn ideas into photo-reality, “Snare Scapes” encourages us to see our capacity to creatively transform the world all around us, to repurpose, to find beauty in the mundane. The images here are just a few from the expansive reimagined instrument world – which includes constructed artefacts in addition to their simulacra – by this internationally-recognized drummer and Berklee College of Music faculty member.
Images: Jonathan Ulman, Snare Drums Reimagined, Snare Scapes