When abandoned places begin to move again
"Strange Things Happening" is my latest multimedia AI project about places that seem forgotten and the exiting moment when they start to feel alive again. Using generative image, video, and music tools, I created a printed 12-month calendar and an accompanying music video that connect physical design with digital storytelling.
The project followed shortly after my very first music video She Belongs to the Silence. This time, I wanted to appear my work more quietly. Less spectacle, even more atmosphere.
The idea
The visual world is built around objects that usually have a clear purpose: plastic tarps, barrier tape, traffic signs, Christmas trees, and temporary installations. But once abandoned, they lose their function and gain ambiguity.
What interested me was not decay, but suspension. A state where nothing seems to happen, yet something feels present. What if a place suddenly becomes alive again? What if fragments of past stories briefly surface, like scenes from a film?
The images don’t explain. They wait.
A physical goal
From the start, the project had a tangible destination: a printed calendar, designed as a Christmas gift for my nephew Nicholas who shares my fascination for abandoned places and things. Twelve images, one for each month. Something slow, something you live with.
Strange scenes and places. The images avoid loud narratives and invite quiet curiosity.
Maybe the abandoned is not lost. Maybe it is just resting.
Thinking and creating with AI
The concept was developed with ChatGPT and my custom GPT "Art Director Midjourney". The focus was not on automation, but on direction: shaping mood, rhythm, and repetition.
Each month received its own visual idea and short quote. Midjourney was used to generate the images, but selection mattered more than generation. The balance between intention and AI randomness became a central part of the work.
From stillness to motion
After producing the calendar with iFolor, the images felt ready to move. As an extension, I created a music video based on the same material.
Twelve images became twelve short video sequences. Movement is minimal and often feels accidental. Video generation required patience, each clip had to be extended step by step, but the slowness suited the project.
The soundtrack was generated with Suno AI: techno textures layered with classical orchestral elements. Compared to video, music generation was fast and intuitive. Sound here does not lead, it surrounds.
All clips were upscaled and then edited in Final Cut Pro, paired with English versions of the calendar quotes, and assembled into a video just under three minutes long. Editing was occasionally fiddly, but AI support made problem-solving easier.
To connect the physical calendar with the digital piece, a QR code linking to the YouTube video was added to the calendar: Paper leads to motion.
What remains
"Strange Things Happening" now exists as a printed calendar, a music video, image archives, and short reels. More than a finished object, it represents a way of working:
AI as a creative partner, not a shortcut. Structure combined with randomness. Still images given time to breathe.
Sometimes nothing happens. And sometimes, that’s exactly where things begin.
Links & Resources
Video & Media
- YouTube "Strange Things Happening (Music Video)": https://youtu.be/A4Zeey1xy4g?si=OGMPEwyGIg4T0gsU
- Flickr Gallery "Strange Things Happening": https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCFx9w
- Suno Track "Strange Things Happening": https://suno.com/song/75ec0e20-3b25-4b79-8420-0cfc738e016e?sh=44S1UCc2tsvyqUS5
Tools & Platforms
- Midjourney: https://www.midjourney.com
- ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com
- Topaz Video Upscaler (replicate.com): https://replicate.com/topazlabs/video-upscale
- Suno AI: https://suno.com
- iFolor Photo Calendars: https://www.ifolor.ch/fotokalender