THE CHRISTMAS WITH

Toledano refers to his style as ‘historical surrealism’, a reflection on the fluidity of truth in a world that is increasingly dominated by subjective narratives. Evoking the iconography of the US in the 1940s and 1950s, his photographs mix familiarity and dissonance to explore the role of technology in redefining collective memory. The photographs and thought-provoking text create a multi-sensory dialogue that challenges the viewer to question the images. The British artist constructs a world that is both realistic and deeply surreal using AI. In an age marked by conspiracy theories and alternative narratives, Phillip Toledano invites the audience to reflect on the risks and opportunities o@ered by artificial intelligence in creating new realities. Where facts are just tools to be interpreted, this is an exciting new era for how truth is presented. The book opens with a crucial sentence: ‘Truth in America has been slowly dying over the last decade’. This insight underscores the central theme of Toledano’s work: the ability to recreate the world as it has never been before. Reflecting the paradox of our time, his frameworks, though familiar, are inherently dissonant. We are left with profound and disturbing questions: did it really happen? What is true? The artist acknowledges that the interaction with AI o@ers a unique perspective on contemporary storytelling. Artificial intelligence’s appeal is precisely in being able to alter perceptions of truth, revealing a new way of shaping and reinterpreting history.