AI MANIFESTA is a visual investigation into political memory and its iconographic codes.
The work consists of 280 posters created by artists Francesco D’Isa and Chiara Moresco, reworking a selection of political and social posters from the Manifestipolitici.it database using generative artificial intelligence.
Curated by Sineglossa and Fondazione Gramsci Emilia-Romagna, the project has been on display in Bologna since April 2025, exhibited on the walls of the building located at Via Zaccherini Alvisi 11/2.
Often seen either as a neutral agent or as a filter that amplifies existing biases, AI in this work becomes a critical tool, capable of revealing the persistent visual patterns of political propaganda and suggesting new ways to interpret the past.
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The posters reworked with AI
Artists Francesco D’Isa and Chiara Moresco used generative artificial intelligence tools to analyze a selection of about 100 political and social posters, allowing the AI to identify recurring iconographic patterns and rework them into abstract and reinterpreted forms, generating hundreds of new posters.
The artists printed 280 of them in street-poster format, now displayed on the wall of the building at Via Zaccherini Alvisi 11/2.
Hands, flags, and symbols of war are the recurring elements in the posters — signs of a visual grammar that shapes the collective political imagination.
From a methodological perspective, the project developed through a series of stages: first, posters were generated based on the original materials; then they were cataloged; finally, those representing the identified patterns were selected to create a new collection.
The result is a collection that no longer belongs to a specific era, but rather emerges from a sort of collective visual unconscious.
The Manifestipolitici.it database
The AI MANIFESTA project stems from the creative exploration of part of the Manifestipolitici.it documentary heritage. It’s an open-access database created between 1999 and 2000 dedicated to political and social posters, conceived and promoted by the Fondazione Gramsci Emilia-Romagna and developed with Dot Beyond (formerly DM Cultura).
The database, freely accessible online, offers consultation of around 17,000 textual and/or iconographic documents dating from 1850 to the present day, including posters, flyers, notices, handbills, and postcards produced and distributed for political and social communication and propaganda purposes.
Users can explore historic electoral propaganda posters, self-produced materials from youth movements, communications from local authorities, and testimonies from many European countries, as well as from Latin America and Southeast Asia.
The AI MANIFESTA project follows the announcement of the database’s graphic redesign and the introduction of a Digital Library, made possible through PNRR Tocc funding for the digital transition of cultural institutions.
Francesco D'Isa
Francesco D’Isa, a philosopher and digital artist by training, has exhibited internationally in galleries and contemporary art centers. After debuting with the graphic novel I. (Nottetempo, 2011), he has published essays and novels with Hoepli, effequ, Tunué, and Newton Compton. His latest novel is La Stanza di Therese (Tunué, 2017), while his philosophical essay L’assurda evidenza was published by Edizioni Tlon (2022). His recent works include the graphic novel Sunyata for Eris Edizioni (2023) and the essay La rivoluzione algoritmica delle immagini for Sossella Editore (2024). He is the editorial director of the cultural magazine L’Indiscreto, and writes and draws for various Italian and international magazines. He teaches Philosophy at the Lorenzo de’ Medici Institute (Florence) and Illustration and Contemporary Plastic Techniques at LABA (Brescia).
Chiara Moresco
Chiara Moresco, after obtaining her second academic diploma at LABA in Brescia in 2025, continues her education through artistic and editorial collaborations. At the same time, she develops her artistic research focused on the relationship between the body and the concepts of identity, communication, and interaction with others.
Moresco adopts a precise and multifaceted visual approach, employing variations in language that range from installations to videos, from sculpture to writing.
Credits
AI MANIFESTA is a project by Francesco D’Isa and Chiara Moresco, produced and curated by Sineglossa and the Fondazione Gramsci Emilia-Romagna Onlus.