The MIT Press, ISBN 978-0262546836, English, 288 pages, 2023, USA

‘The distinction between image capture and image creation is now increasingly blurred’, writes Joanna Zylinska in the introduction to The Perception Machine. This is already one of the pivotal arguments in the current debate on photography. Indeed, the digitisation of all visual elements and the computation that goes with it has transcended the definition and role of photography, which is increasingly becoming a metaphor rather than a process. The author joins other theorists who recognise the emerging ‘operational’ quality of images and the growing role that technological images play in our perception of reality. Her definition of the ‘Perception Machine’ is an ‘[…] assemblage […] of the technical, the corporeal, and the social’, which identifies the crucial elements for understanding this change in perception. This manifests itself in a particular way – ‘post-photography’ will be defined by what we know as photography, even if we will not be able to ‘recognise [it] as such’. The seven chapters interweave theory and practice, e.g. video game screen shooting, along with static and moving generative AI image production, including the author’s own artworks. Finally, in the conclusions, an attempt is made to define ‘sensography’ as an evolving concept arising from the current metamorphosis of photography as a possible archetype.