The Portrait in a Mirror was a work I spotted yesterday when I posted about Taiwa-Hensokuki by Yuko Mohri. Both formed part of an exhibited entitled Extended Senses at ICC in Tokyo last year. Created by Kim Dongho, Yim Sungyul and Kang Kyung-Kyu, the installation changes the appearance of the approaching user.
Through analysis by a video camera and image sensor, the image of the visitor is displayed on a mirror-type LCD monitor. The style of the image that appears is determined by the distance between the work and the visitor. As the visitor approaches, his image changes from an ordinary mirror image to something like a painting. This work explores a new approach to portraiture in the digital age.
Not overly awed with this particular work I do have an interest in how mirrors and new media can be used to distort connections / relationships between the ‘real’ and ‘virtual’ - essentially blur distinctions between representations and simulations. Some similar work includes M_M_, Miroir Aux Silhouettes, a_mirror, MirrorSpace, Reface [Portrait Sequencer] and MotionMirror.
Two installation works which employ two computers each to generate a dialogue.
Taiwa-Hensokuki (image above) by Yuko Mohri is an installation consisting of two computers which converse. The computers:
each equipped with speech synthesis software and speech recognition software, interact: the text that one computer reads aloud is analyzed by the other, which reads out the results for the other to analyze. That process is repeated throughout the day, during which the text gradually mutates.
Permanent Vacation (image above) by Cory Arcangel consists of two computers which endlessly bounce auto-replies to each other saying their user is away. The audience are not permitted to see the emails themselves just the inbox’s of the users who every so often hear the hear ding of a new email arriving. Marisa Olson’s review on rhizome questions:
Could this exchange go on forever?
It seems it could continue until the network connection is broken, the computer runs out of space or is shut down however what I’m curious about is how did the exchange start? Surely it was initiated by one user at one of the computers? So is this a statement about the break down of user communication or the lack of any real intelligence in automated systems?
Some related personal work, Video Network #1: Dialogues, while not text/language based does create a dialogue between two parts of the installation.
an audio and visual installation that uses Internet as an imaginary space where sound echoes, reverberates throughout the Web. Based on transmission errors, the sound material is shaped by the virtual acoustic space of the network. Sound streams broadcasted within the installation structure gradually echoes the activity of the Web in various locations of the globe. Its analysis in these various points is used to progressively draw the contours of an imaginary landscape inside the installation.
The installation is currently on show as part of Cimatics at IMAL in Brussels but I’ve not had any luck finding info on the IMAL website.
The ‘Is our machines learning?’ machine (image above) is a networked installation networking a user and a machine based on how the user answers questions in a test.
composed of real U.S. standardized test questions. The physical installation consists of a machine that is mechanically capable of making marks on a Scantron brand standardized test form with a pencil. In a separate online space, visitors coming to a website determine which multiple-choice answers the machine in the installation selects to fill in. The website consists of a testing interface which delivers standardized test questions written by a government agency called the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). When visiting users answer each question, their response is sent to the remote machine. After each answer a user provides, she can watch the machine respond to her input in real-time via a streaming video feed from the installation. To provide incentive for interaction, the user can also explore dynamic statistics about fellow users’ answers as well as generate a student profile based upon how her answers align with actual NAEP statistics.
The test itself (image below) is no longer functioning however details of the project and a video (also below) are available on the site.
Above is a screenshot of the performance Surveiller Punir “Double Contraintes Foucault” (for documentation) which I posted about a few days ago and has just finished on the Panoplie website.
