In the Clouds
By Arvida Byström
Published by Nuda
Stockholm, 2024

Like all good smut, Swedish artist Arvida Byström’s In the Clouds relies more on readers’ imagination than on raw visuals. That is, despite the book being filled with nude “photographs” of its creator, their juxtaposition with erotic theory and fantasy is what truly stimulates.

Byström reveals in her introductory text that the idea for this collection of essays, short stories, and images came from discovering the Undress.app, a harrowing creation advertised as the “best AI deep nudes.” Rife for revenge porn and other violations, the free digital platform uses artificial intelligence to imagine the figures beneath (real) photographs of fully-clothed, unassuming humans. With a body of work centered around sexual ethics and virtual aesthetics, Byström saw tantalizing potential. For months she covertly ran pictures of herself through the app and sold them under the false pretense of authenticity. Having also trained an AI-model on her interviews, Byström, aka ArvidaAI, further chatted to buyers, inspiring conversations that penetrate the heart of AI-ethicality debates.