text and image roberto voorbij
On line 2 of the Rotterdam regional transport company RET has this August started an experiment with facial recognition. With the objective of preserving the public transport ban, imposed on perpetrators of nuisance and frequent fare dodgers. Upon boarding are by a camera the biometric characteristics of a passenger being measured and compared with data from a central database. When there’s a match the conductor is being alerted. However the reliability of the equipment is still far from perfect. In what way a similar application can go wrong can be experienced in a somewhat amusing but mostly unsettling way upon entering the exhibition Technology Requested at the NIMk. The artwork Physiognomic Scrutinizer of Marnix de Nijs follows the same principle as the RET system only will there anyway a match be made and has the conductor been replaced by speakers that announce information related to the in a database found similarity with one of 250 entered controversial persons. On monitors is for everyone visible what kind of match it concerns, the biometric characteristics of the visitor and the degree of similarity. Privacy is no longer taken seriously here as well as everyone’s possible innocence. A crazed tunnel vision seems to be the standard for the detection method of the future. Interesting about this artwork is the clear correlation with reality, it does concern here more than just an isolated technologic experience. This also goes for the work Maya Brush, firstlife of Kirsten Geisler, which raises questions by the through media and advertising propagated beauty ideal. On January 11, 2011 we will therefore witness the birth of the first 100% computer generated virtual beauty, the ‘Homo Virtualis’ Maya Brush, live on http://firstvirtualbirth.com…
Marnix de Nijs – Physiognomic Scrutinizer (2010).
Marnix de Nijs – Physiognomic Scrutinizer (2010).
Left screen: 33.00% similarity – identified as lia-eden. Right screen: calculating face coordinates 301.27.83.84.52.900391 320.48.50.364.47 – input source: live feed___ matching processing % 100.
Kirsten Geisler – Maya Brush, firstlife (2010).
Kirsten Geisler – Maya Brush, firstlife (2010).
Kirsten Geisler – Maya Brush, firstlife (2010).
The Bleeding Tomato 