Autumn term brief 2024: Counter Culture

 

 I have three initial ideas that I would like to explore as a part of this brief, all relating to capitalism.

The first involves casting the interior of an ant colony. Ants are being studied by climate change scientists so that they can create alternative decentralisation and logistics models for the future survival of our species. Creating sculptural pieces that represent the interior of these highly adaptable social creatures home is a way that I can tangibly represents the counter culture biomimicry that these scientists are connecting with. And it honours the wisdom of this humble insect.

After researching the requirements to make a piece like this, I soon realised that it's a pretty complicated endeavour. And so it may suit my FMP better. For the meantime I am connecting with engineers and entomologists to further investigate.

My second project reworks The Wall Street Bull sculpture by Arturo Di Modica, which stands in the middle of the financial district of Manhattan, New York.

"The sculpture was created by Italian artist Arturo Di Modica in the wake of the 1987 Black Monday stock market crash. Late in the evening of Thursday, December 14, 1989, Di Modica arrived on Wall Street with Charging Bull on the back of a truck and illegally dropped the sculpture outside of the New York Stock Exchange Building. After being removed by the New York City Police Department later that day, Charging Bull was installed at Bowling Green on December 20, 1989. Despite initially having only a temporary permit to be located at Bowling Green, Charging Bull became a popular tourist attraction. Di Modica may have been influenced by a pair of huge metallic sculptures, a charging bull and a bear, placed in front of the Frankfurt, Germany Stock Exchange in 1985 as part of the 400th celebration of the exchange."

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charging_Bull

I'd like to rework this piece, creating a subversive sculptural version that swaps out the bulls horns for my fingers. It would be a fitting dream if I could create this piece for free using the 3D printers at the University of Nottingham Chemistry department. I know some of the lab technicians there; we met though the Nottingham counter culture music scene when I started playing on their rig at free parties and have been friends ever since. If isn't feasible, I will create a silicon jacket mould of a sculpture that I create that I can cast into.

My third project option would focus on attention commodity and anti-facial recognition make-up, also known as CV dazzle. I'd like to do a photographic and video series experimenting with different techniques to should interrupt facial recognition software and eye gaze measurements.

CV Dazzle Looks N°6, N°7. Adam Harvey 2020

"CV Dazzle is a form of camouflage from computer vision created in 2010 as my masters thesis at New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program. Unlike traditional camouflage, such as disruptive-pattern material, that hides the wearer from human observation, CV Dazzle is designed to break machine vision systems while still remaining perceptible to human observers. It is the first documented camouflage technique to successfully attack a computer vision algorithm.

In this proof of concept research project from 2010 the technique was used to break the widely-used (at the time) Viola-Jones face detection algorithm by using bold patterning to break apart the expected features of the face detection profiles. This algorithm gradually become deprecated in security around 2013-2016 and is no longer used, therefore the original patterns (designed between 2010-2013) are no longer active looks. But until then it was the only face detection algorithm and therefore created a single point of failure when broken, cascading throughout the security industry. All of sudden a key technology in the previously infallible post 9/11 security apparatus could be foiled by makeup and hairstyles.

The initial CV Dazzle designs work by altering the expected dark and light areas of a face (or object) according to the vulnerabilities of a specific computer vision algorithm. In the image above (Look #5), the design targets the Viola-Jones face detection algorithm, a popular (at the time of development) and open source face detector that is included with the OpenCV computer vision framework. But CV Dazzle is not a specific design or pattern. CV Dazzle is a camouflage strategy to evade computational vision systems that evolves, as camouflage does, alongside the technology it aims to subvert. Patterns and designs are always specific to the wearer, algorithm, and environmental conditions."

Source: https://adam.harvey.studio/cvdazzle