Authorship and Interpretation through Generative Art
This project explores the intersection between generative image synthesis and the poststructuralist theory outlined by Roland Barthes in his essay "The Death of the Author". By employing sentence and word order variations, cut-up techniques, and prompt manipulations, the work reflects on how AI reinterprets meaning when freed from fixed authorial intent. The artwork becomes a practical engagement with Barthes’ idea that the text (or prompt) is a site of open-ended interpretation, demonstrating how meaning shifts with each textual manipulation.
In this process, the original prompt—the Barthes quote itself—functions as a symbolic fragment. The act of changing the syntax and sequence parallels Barthes’ notion that the death of the author enables meaning to proliferate freely, without a singular source. Each AI-generated image serves as a visual response, embodying the fluidity of interpretation and the disconnect between the "author's" (my) intent and the AI’s output as the new symbolic practice.
AI as the New Author?
The work also engages with questions of authorship and creative agency in the age of AI. With the AI functioning as both an interpreter and a creator, who now holds the authorship of the final image? Barthes suggested that the author’s death gives way to the birth of the reader as the new locus of meaning—here, the AI becomes both reader and author, its output standing independently from both the original quote and my prompts. This ambiguity between human input and machine creativity reflects the shifting boundaries between authorship, interpretation, and production in generative art.
Midjourney Setting --ar 1:1 --v 6.1 --style 100
Original Prompts:
As soon as a fact is narrated no longer with a view to acting directly on reality but intransitively, that is to say, finally outside of any function other than that of the very practice of the symbol itself, this disconnection occurs, the voice loses its origin, the author enters into his own death, writing begins.
From “The Death of the Author”, Roland Barthes, first published in 1967.
Analysis: Surrealism style, Author in the image, merging with elements like cloud, smoke, ink and mountain
Prompt Analysis:
1 Sentence, 7 Subsentences, 56 words, 6 commas, 1 period
1 As soon as a fact is narrated no longer with a view to acting directly on reality but intransitively,
2 that is to say,
3 finally outside of any function other than that of the very practice of the symbol itself,
4 this disconnection occurs,
5 the voice loses its origin,
6 the author enters into his own death,
7 writing begins.
Variation1 - Sentence Sequence Change:
Reverse order 1234567 - 7654321
writing begins. the author enters into his own death, the voice loses its origin, this disconnection occurs, finally outside of any function other than that of the very practice of the symbol itself, that is to say, As soon as a fact is narrated no longer with a view to acting directly on reality but intransitively
Analysis: more realistic author image and writing action, probably because the sentence has “writing begins. the author” in the beginning and more weight in the front.
Random order 1234567 - 4315726
this disconnection occurs, finally outside of any function other than that of the very practice of the symbol itself, As soon as a fact is narrated no longer with a view to acting directly on reality but intransitively, the voice loses its origin, writing begins. that is to say, the author enters into his own death,
Analysis: circular element, the person is in meditation, probably because keywords like “disconnection”, “practice of the symbol” in the beginning.
Sentence Sequence Conclusion: The sequence of prompts influences the image generation, those in the beginning have more weights than those in the end.
Variation2 - Text Cut-up:
https://chardin.neocities.org/cut_up
2 words, 3 words, 4 words, 5 words, bigger phrase size keeps more original text intact
5 words Cut up Prompts
Its origin the author enters on reality but, Intransitively that of any function other than is, To say finally outside that of the very, Practice begins into his own death writing disconnection, Occurs the voice loses is, Narrated no longer with as, Soon as a fact of, The symbol itself this a
Analysis: The author’s head blends with trees, smoke and architecture. Really symbolic.
4 words Cut up Prompts
Disconnection occurs the voice the very practice, Of the symbol itself this author enters, Into his to acting directly on fact, Is narrated no other than that of, Outside of any function reality but intransitively, That own death writing begins loses its, Origin the as soon as a, Longer with a view is to say
Analysis: Similar to the previous one, the author’s head blends with branches, earth and sky. “Disconnection” turns it into black and white
3 words Cut up Prompts
This disconnection occurs his own, Death outside of any a, Fact is writing begins its, Origin the with a view, Author enters into that of, The narrated no longer function, Other than to say finally, As soon as on reality, But the voice loses the symbol, Itself very practice of intransitively that
Analysis: Two images have skeletons, because “death” comes early. Two images have realistic figure. “Disconnection” turns it into black and white
2 words Cut up Prompts
As a reality but outside of the, Symbol writing begins any function own death, To acting practice of is to disconnection, Occurs intransitively that that of itself this, Directly on loses its as soon say, Finally the very other than fact, Is into his origin the longer with, The voice narrated no a view author
Analysis: Abstract writing and skull elements with color. Because the “Symbol writing”, “death” in the early prompts.
Cut Up Conclusion: Cut up is a random process, with fewer words cut up, the more complicated and far away from the original meaning. And each phrase and word becomes independent elements, then the earlier they show up in the prompts, the more influences they have in the image generation process.
Variation3 - Word Sequence Change:
Reverse order
https://www.dcode.fr/reverse-writing
begins writing. death own his into enters author the, origin its loses voice the, occurs disconnection this, itself symbol the of practice very the of that than other function any of outside finally, say to is that, intransitively but reality on directly acting to view a with longer no narrated is fact a as soon As
Analysis: very realistic writing and skull elements in the image. Because the “writing”, “death” in the very beginning.
Random order
https://onlinetools.com/random/shuffle-words
is occurs, intransitively, practice disconnection to fact is own but say, the that to loses function this any of its as a very writing As author itself, directly acting the the than view narrated of of voice the finally reality other with soon no outside enters on a longer origin, begins. death, symbol his that into
Analysis: two images are very realistic skulls. Another two are abstract figures in painting style. Probably the randomized process breaks down the original meaning, so AI will have different interpretation each time.
Conclusion: word sequence change means one word cut-up, so it has a similar influence to the cut up process. The words ”death” “author” “writing” are words that have a clear visual image relationship, so they will dominate the image.
Variation4 - Midjourney “–no” Prompts
--no + Original Prompts:
123456 --no 7
As soon as a fact is narrated no longer with a view to acting directly on reality but intransitively, that is to say, finally outside of any function other than that of the very practice of the symbol itself, this disconnection occurs, the voice loses its origin, the author enters into his own death, --no writing begins.
Analysis: red circle elements, trees, painting style. “–No writing begins” get rid of writing, book elements, also influence the emotions of the images.
12345 --no 67
As soon as a fact is narrated no longer with a view to acting directly on reality but intransitively, that is to say, finally outside of any function other than that of the very practice of the symbol itself, this disconnection occurs, the voice loses its origin, --no the author enters into his own death, writing begins.
Analysis: a lady shows up in two images. In other two images a graphic compositions show up. With ”--no the author enters into his own death, writing begins.” the male person is removed, and the dark feeling of images is gone.
1234 --no 567
As soon as a fact is narrated no longer with a view to acting directly on reality but intransitively, that is to say, finally outside of any function other than that of the very practice of the symbol itself, this disconnection occurs, --no the voice loses its origin, the author enters into his own death, writing begins.
Analysis: the more –no, the further away from the original images and meaning.
--no + Text Cut-up:
--no + 2 words Cut up Prompts
As a reality but outside of the, Symbol writing begins any function own death, To acting practice of is to disconnection, Occurs intransitively that that of itself this, Directly on loses its as soon say, Finally the very other than fact, Is into his origin the longer with, --no The voice narrated no a view author
Analysis: skull figures are removed from the original images. Images become abstract.
--no +Random word order
https://onlinetools.com/random/shuffle-words
is occurs, intransitively, practice disconnection to fact is own but say, the that to loses function this any of its as a very writing As author itself, directly acting the the than view narrated of of voice the finally reality other with soon no outside enters on a longer origin, begins. --no death, symbol his that into
Analysis: “--no death, symbol his that into” turns the images into a more realistic style, with female figures.
“–no” Prompts Conclusion: The “--no” will remove the related elements, and generate surprising new images.
Variation5 - Midjourney Multi Prompts
Multi Prompts + Original Prompts 1
As soon as a fact is narrated no longer with a view to acting directly on reality but intransitively, that is to say, finally outside of any function other than that of the very practice of the symbol itself, this disconnection occurs, the voice loses its origin, the author enters into his own death writing :: begins.
Analysis: Separate “begins” did not change much of the image style.
Multi Prompts + Original Prompts 2
As soon as a fact is narrated no longer with a view to acting directly on reality but intransitively, that is to say, finally outside of any function other than that of the very practice of the symbol itself, this disconnection occurs, the voice loses its origin, the author enters into his own death :: writing :: begins.
Analysis: Separate “begins” and “writing”, book and writing elements show up, four images are quite different.
Multi Prompts + Original Prompts 3
As soon as a fact is narrated no longer with a view to acting directly on reality but intransitively, that is to say, finally outside of any function other than that of the very practice of the symbol itself, this disconnection occurs, the voice loses its origin, the author enters into his own :: death :: writing :: begins.
Analysis: more abstract, painting style
Multi Prompts + Original Prompts 4
As soon as a fact is narrated no longer with a view to acting directly on reality but intransitively, that is to say, finally outside of any function other than that of the very practice of the symbol itself, this disconnection occurs, the voice loses its origin, the author enters into his :: own :: death :: writing :: begins.
Analysis: no big changes
Multi Prompts + Original Prompts 5
As soon as a fact is narrated no longer with a view to acting directly on reality but intransitively, that is to say, finally outside of any function other than that of the very practice of the symbol itself, this disconnection occurs, the voice loses its origin, the author enters into :: his :: own :: death :: writing :: begins.
Analysis: the visual style changed dramatically into collage style. Skulls and head body elements. Colorful palette.
Multi Prompts Conclusion: multi prompts emphasize the meaning of each individual word that is separated. And it could then mix the meaning and create totally different understanding and images.
“Human Text Author - AI Text Reader - AI Image Author - Human Image Reader”
The whole process highlights the tension between control and unpredictability in generative art: while prompts are crafted intentionally and randomly, the AI understands the texts as the reader and recreates the images as the new author, introducing emergent elements that transcend authorial intent. And I am interpreting the resulting images with my own interpretations as the reader.
