Data-Mask Installation View at ZKM Karlsruhe for GLOBALE: Infosphere, Sep 2015

Sobek Data-Mask Installation View at ZKM Karlsruhe for GLOBALE: Infosphere, Sep 2015

Zuck Blister Data-Mask Installation View at ZKM Karlsruhe for GLOBALE: Infosphere, Sep 2015

Overview

Data-masks are face masks which were created by reverse engineering facial recognition and detection algorithms. These algorithms were used to guide an evolving system toward the production of human-like faces. These evolved faces were then 3D printed as masks, shadows of human beings as seen by the minds-eye of the machine-organism. This exposes the way the machine, and the surveillance state, view human identity and this makes aspects of these invisible power structures visible.

Data-Masks are animistic deities brought out of the algorithmic-spirit-world of the machine and into our material world, ready to tell us their secrets, or warn us of what's to come.

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This work is a continuation of my Masters of Science thesis, which is a theoretical and technical investigation into the form and function of biometric surveillance technology, the mathematical analysis of biological data.

Theoretically, I am concerned with the aggressive overdevelopment of surveillance technology and how this is changing human identity and how humanity interacts with technology. By technology I mean individual instances of technological devices and networked systems like cameras and software, but also what I identify as the 'Technological Other', a global living super-organism of all machines and software. Technically, my specific focus has been in reverse engineering facial recognition, facial detection, and image correlation techniques in order to reveal how they represent human identity.

This research has resulted in the production of a series of 3D printed face masks which were algorithmically evolved to satisfy facial recognition algorithms. It is important to understand that the goal of creating these masks isn't to defeat facial recognition or provide something undetectable, simply covering your face with your hand will do that. Rather, my goal is to show the machine what it's looking for, to hold a mirror up to the all-seeing eye of the digital-panopticon we live in and let it stare back into its own mind.

Data-masks are intended for use in acts of protest, poetry, civil disobedience, and shamanistic ritual by the citizens of our global village as it becomes further blanketed by techno-sphere.

Technical Details

If you would like to know more about how this was done, please refer to my Master's Thesis titled "Data-Masks Biometric Surveillance Masks Evolving in the Gaze of the Technological Other"

Motivations

This work is an act of political protest by means of bringing transparency to the surveillance and biometric techniques used today. These Data-masks give form to an otherwise invisible network of control and identification systems and make their effect on our identities tangible and visible.

"You can't hit what you can't see, you can't grab what you can't touch. You can't critically engage with technoculture and its infrastructure if you're unable to unravel its threads, run your fingers through the seams, visualize its jurisdiction and weigh its influence on everyday life." #Stacktivism

Computer systems built to represent human identities have contained with them many ontological assumptions about what it is to be an individual and what personal identity is. These systems define the human as a "what" ie: that which can be measured, not as a "who" ie: our inner self.

If the state of the art in computer science can produce a unique feature that describes an individual as such, what good does that do the individual if this knowledge is only leveraged against them?

If private citizens personal information, social graphs, and communications are being analyzed then the results should be made available to said persons to empower rather than enslave them. This attitude has become popular in personal fitness but not in communications, biometric identity, or social networks.

"We see the world, not as it is, but as we are" - Talmud