Carlos Amorales Uses AI to Reanimate 1990s Archive in 'Todos somos Amorales' at Images Vevey

Key facts

• Carlos Amorales presented 'Todos somos Amorales' at the Swiss biennial Images Vevey, in collaboration with the La Becque art residency.
• The work is an AI-assisted autobiographical film built from 160 slides taken in the 1990s, part of the archive of his 1996–2001 project 'Los Amorales.'
• Amorales created his artistic name in 1996 by combining the 'A' of his paternal surname Aguirre with his maternal surname Morales.
• The project began in late 2024 after a visit from Images Vevey director Stefano Stoll, who discussed a Richard Billingham project and an unpublished part of his archive.
• Spanish photographer Ángel Tornero introduced Amorales to software capable of reactivating images, leading to the AI animation process.
• Amorales deliberately kept AI errors—such as strange eyes, altered faces, and added mustaches—for honesty.
• An animated photograph of Superbarrio in Amsterdam revealed the previously unnoticed presence of Amorales's deceased school director.
• The film is narrated from the present by Lake Geneva, with Amorales's youngest son Helio, then four years old, present during the residency.
• The piece appeared in the Images Vevey edition titled 'We Are Family!' and was curated without imposing a theme.
• Amorales connects the title to Superbarrio's slogan 'Todos somos Superbarrio' and to the phrase 'ideas are collective masks.'
• A catalog of the Biennale Images Vevey includes the presentation of 'Todos somos Amorales' (2026).