A.I.GIP STREET SHRINES  
part of the series: O C _ C U L T  M 4 C H I N E S   / CAR CULT
Images generated with AI. Part of the BMKOES research grant AI in the arts. 

AIGIP Street Shrines is a series of AI-generated images that transform roadside petrol stations into surreal altars. Part of the larger project Car Cult, within oO_Ccult
M4CH1NES, the series blends car culture with contemporary mysticism. Gas pumps become devotional objects, decorated with synthetic flowers, feathers, and golden plastic. Inspired by the artist’s travels and long research stays in Southeast Asia, the United States, and Southern Italy, the work draws from folk shrines, street offerings, and the glossy aesthetics of consumer culture. Ferrari, something like a car herself, inhabits this mythic terrain from the inside out.

This work expands Karin Ferrari’s ongoing investigation into trash mysticism, re-enchanting everyday environments with speculative spiritual meaning. The automobile emerges not only as a machine but as a fetish object—an emblem of aspiration, transcendence, and manufactured desire. Advertising imagery borrows liberally from sacred motifs: halos, ascensions, and dreamlike landscapes. In its design and sensory appeal, the car mimics ritual devices—flashing LEDs, haptic touchscreens, ambient hums—inviting a kind of synthetic devotion. Within this framework, the car ceases to be mere transport and becomes a techno-religious relic, humming with the mythologies of late capitalism.