Steph Maj Swanson

(Supercomposite)

Steph Maj Swanson, f.k.a. Supercomposite, is a multimedia artist and writer based in Uppsala, Sweden.

Loab

 

 

 

Steph is best known for her story about the AI-generated cryptid Loab, which Forbes praised as “genuinely interesting and unsettling” and which The Atlantic dubbed “a form of expression that has never existed before.” A multitude of other media outlets have featured Loab, including Rolling Stone, Der Spiegel, Artnet News, BBC Radio, and the ABC. To learn more about Loab, visit loab.ai or read the original viral Twitter thread.

"Loab sparked some lengthy ethical conversations around visual aesthetics, art and technology."

 

Smithsonian Magazine

"The thread, with its genuinely interesting and unsettling elements combined with the mythos of an actual demon lurking within AI algorithms, is something that will probably have the movie rights auctioned off to Netflix by the end of the day."

 

Forbes 

"Loab might seem like standard creepypasta, but her origins are a whole lot more mysterious."

 

Rolling Stone

Public speaking

 

Steph is a speaker at events and conferences, where she shares her unique critical perspective on topics such as AI and creative labor. In 2023, she held talks at DEF CON in Las Vegas, the Chaos Communication Congress in Hamburg, and for Svenska Tecknare (the Swedish Illustrators' Union) in Stockholm. In 2024 she spoke at IDA in Copenhagen and is slated to speak at the Belgrade Museum of Contemporary Art in November.

 

Steph håller föredrag med ett unikt kritiskt blick mot AI - även på svenska!

 

For talk enquiries, email contact@supercompo.site.

Suicide III

 

Steph wrote and directed the short film Suicide III  (2023) as a part of ARRG!'s video art installation at DEF CON 31 in Las Vegas. The film uses deepfakes and other synthetic imagery in an attempt to weave a satirical counter-narrative to AI hype. In 2024, Suicide III screened at The Museum of the Moving Image in New York, and is slated to be shown at Uppsala Short Film Festival and Videomedeja in Novi Sad, Serbia.

Other work

 

Steph’s other writing was deemed “disturbing” by The Washington Post, while her body of video and still image work was described by Galleries West as “the merging of repulsive with beautiful.”

 

Recently, Steph has taken interest in film programming. This year, she's curating and hosting the special program "Algorithmic Grotesque" at Uppsala Short Film Festival.