Dr Jonathan Clementi-Smith

Research Interests
Global screen cultures and intercultural storytelling
Practice-based research in film and video art
Postcolonial perspectives in cinema
Digital media aesthetics and narrative innovation

 

Currently working a new book called,

 

Sleepwalking Through Dreamtime

A film philosophy of Oniro-Modernism

 

Cinema Saigon - Dr Jonathan Clementi-Smith

Saigon in Cinema is a book examining the cultural and social evolution of the city as reflected in its film representations. It considers space, identity, and the shifting socio-economic landscape, all connected to Saigon's role as a major cultural centre. This work goes beyond merely portraying Saigon in film; it delves into how the city has contributed to shaping a national and transnational media identity. 

Specific areas of interest within the text would be how the city is represented through fiction and documentary, through commercial and experimental works. Underpinned by key historical moments within the greater ideological narratives of the times.

I will also create my own poetic documentary work similar in style to the city symphony films of the mid-20^thcentury, both to highlight key movements in cultural thought connected to time, place, and space within HCMC. 

This will be a form of ‘cartographic schizoanalysis’ inspired by the philosophies of Giles Deleuze, yet pragmatically reinterpreted and grounded through visual media, both traditional and experimental, analogue and digital. 

 

Currently working on 2 Journal articles

 

The Fractal Simulacra: AI and the Art of War

Abstract: This paper explores Jean Baudrillard’s Simulacra and Simulation in relation to modern media ecology to analyse how media coverage of the Iran-American war exemplifies the evolution of simulacra. The fractal simulacra are described as recursive, self-similar layers of simulated content occurring at different scales of states. This concept clarifies the interactions among generative AI, platform structures, and institutional messaging in creating networks of credibility that are detached from stable references. The paper investigates AI-generated videos as propaganda, conceptualises such media as fictionalised truth-entertainment, situates these developments within the frameworks of hyperreality and non-linear reality, and considers likely near-term advancements in AI for war reporting, war creation, and the art in-between. It concludes with technical, institutional, and normative recommendations aimed at upholding procedural epistemic standards while recognising systemic shifts in mediation from fractural truth to refracted meaning.

 

Jean Baudrillard’s Simulacra and Simulation (1981/1994) argues that in late modernity, images and signs no longer reliably refer to underlying reality; instead, simulacra create a precession where the map precedes and shapes the territory. This diagnosis has gained renewed urgency with the proliferation of generative AI, which produces fictitious content by automating the creation, synthesis, and modification of images and videos. Deepfake videos and algorithmic narratives, generated or influenced by AI, circulate rapidly on platforms, further complicating the relationship between media and reality. In this context, the media ecology surrounding the Iran-American war, characterised by conflicting visual “evidence,” claims of AI-created footage, and layered institutional narratives, calls for a reexamination of Baudrillard’s thesis.

 

The term 'fractal simulacra' describes the modern phenomenon of recursive, self-similar simulation patterns appearing across multiple scales: micro (single clips), meso (aggregated feeds), and macro (state and media ecosystems). Generative AI automatically creates or modifies media artefacts at each level, enabling both the proliferation and stratification of simulations. This fractalisation heightens epistemic uncertainty: video footage is no longer definitive proof; verification processes become sites of political contestation; and the boundaries between entertainment and documentary grow more blurred. The original paper’s structure is expanded by providing a focused analysis of AI-enabled fictionalised propaganda and outlining the unique roles of AI in crafting and disseminating such narratives. Additionally, the discussion explores AI’s relationship to hyperreality and non-linear temporality, which concludes with an evidence-based projection of future trajectories for AI in war and war reporting, along with the pervasive algorithmic biases that fuel this within a multilayered fractal loop. The paper concludes that with a character like President Trump, is AI playing ‘catch-up’ within the realm of the “alternative fact-image”? Ultimately ending in a ‘howlround effect’ descending into meme-based AI trolling. The human toll of war becomes an image of the absurd.

 

AI and the Halucination of Reality

(Journal Article)

 

Currently working on a joint reserch project with RMIT Melbourne

Creating a short-form Documentry around the secondhand clothing industry

 

Creating a long-form Documentry: Saigon. A City Symphony

Art Drift Outcomes

Techno City Futures