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Writing Class #1 Lotte

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♠♠♠♠♠ EDITED VERSION ♠♠♠♠♠♠

Talk Neural To Me

Talk neural to me is a one channel video projection. On a big piece of wall a projection of a blurred porn movie, only vaguely recognisable by pink body images moving, is looping. In audio we hear a computer generated descriptive voice translating what the computer 'sees' behind the blurred image. Talk Neural to me is part of a bigger ensemble of multiple works, exploring the relationship between the viewer, the interface and (online) pornography. An image captioning neural network tries to analyse the moving images of top hit porn movies from Pornhub based on a database of more than 330,000 images (and countless objects within these images).

Using an open-source written code and an open-source database I let the neural network analyze a still from these Pornhub movies every 15 frames or so. These descriptions are later translated into a computer voiceover and put under the actual moving film again. Since the used database has no porn or even nude-related pictures in it, these descriptions are often humorously close to the actual ‘act’ but not ‘smart’ enough to recognize the object. This results in descriptions as; “A woman is brushing her teeth in the bathroom,” whereas the viewer knows that what she is holding is definitely not a toothbrush.

I am very interested in the relation between viewer and object and how the interface influences this relationship. In these works I tried to create a distance from the viewer towards internet pornography, usually seen in a ‘private’ relationship between browser and person. In this work the computer itself is taking the place of the viewer. In this way, I hope to raise multiple questions about our relation towards pornography and technology. As AI is growing and neural networks are used more and more as ‘smart’ objects, the question remains to the human influence on these networks. Clearly, in this case, there is not a ‘pornographic’ database, and still, these databases are only based on ‘human’ descriptions. The humorous result also creates a distance for the viewer to question their own relation to online-pornography and the meaning of these images.

Ipcam

Ipcam is a mute 5-channel video-loop of screen recordings on online unprotected personal webcams. These recordings are shown on 5 screens that are situated next to each other. They show people in their daily life. Sorting out medicine on the kitchen table, watching TV, sleeping, smoking. Interwoven with these recordings are my personal thoughts and imagined stories about the people who appear on these webcams. In the form of an online diary, as being typed live from another space at the same time, these thoughts and stories appear on different screens during the loop. On one screen a story will appear while at the same time there are 4 other screens showing webcam recordings. This gives the viewer also the freedom to project my ‘stories’ on other people, making them able to craft in a sense their own story as well.

During my research about privacy and the online, I stumbled across different articles about ‘unprotected IP-webcams’. It talked about how people can be spied on through their own webcams they put up, mostly because they didn’t think they would need a password or simply stuck to the standard one. Curious about these webcams I came across a website that has the world biggest directory of online surveillance security cameras. But I also saw that due to an automatic gathering process of these IP-cams also a lot of personal webcams were added to the database. I started bookmarking and following the people I came across, this period would take between 1 day to 3 weeks before the webcams got taken down.

My initial interest in doing this project was to expose the fragility of online-privacy or better said, the non-existence of online privacy. I was interested in what kind of different private situations I could find. But soon enough it became an obsession to follow the people I started viewing. They were puppets in a story I made up, like it was my own directed reality-tv show. It was possible for me to view those webcams at home, in a private space, but making it public also made it uncomfortable, revealing the voyeuristic stimulation private browsing can have. The written stories spark the viewers' curiosity, getting slowly sucked into a voyeuristic position. In this way the work is not only about the public screening of these private events but also about the relationship of the viewer and the viewed.

Being Indifferent

Being Indifferent is an analog video loop consisting of two VHS recorders, two TV's and one camera. On a platform two VHS recorders are facing each other. In between you can see a running loop of VHS tape. On the right side are two TV's stacked on top of each other. Both recorders are connected to one TV each. One of the TV's is also connected to a camera pointing at the entrance of the room. On one screen you see the live image of the camera, and on the other one, the recorded image appears 30 seconds later.

I was intrigued by the analog format of these recordings, being able to erase something for real, something not really possible anymore in the digital age. There are two VHS players/recorders that continuously loop one piece of VHS-tape between them. One of them is recording the live webcam registration on the piece of tape while the other one shows the recorded image on the TV. 
This allows the visitor to see himself not only now in time and space, but also thirty seconds ago. The performance of the viewer only lasts for a period of time before it get's erased.

I was interested in the medium SnapChat for a while. The idea that you can capture and share something (that is clearly a necessity nowadays) but that it also automatically 'erases' the thing you captured. At the same time it will never really ‘erase’ itself, as digital traces of this will always exist in the cloud and on someone's phone. I wanted to create a sort of analog snapchat. The effect is eerie when you just walk in, and on the top TV you see yourself live, on the other one the room is empty, as if you don’t exist. But a moment later you see yourself walking in and the effect of seeing yourself on screen is as conspicuous as always. During the show a lot of people ironically enough made selfies of themselves on these ‘old’ tv screens.

♠♠♠♠♠ ORIGINAL VERSION ♠♠♠♠♠♠

Talk Neural To Me

What?

Talk neural to me is a one channel video installation, part of a bigger ensemble of multiple works, exploring the relationship between the viewer, the medium and (online) pornography. An image captioning neural network analyses top hit porn movies from Pornhub based on a database of more than 330,000 images. The projection is a deliberately blurred image, only vaguely recognising pink body images moving. A computer voice translates what the computer ‘sees’ on screen into a descriptive voiceover.

How?

Using an open-source written code and an open-source database I let the neural network analyse an image every 15 frames or so. These descriptions are later translated into a computer voiceover and put under the actual moving film again. Since the computer has not a database on porn these descriptions are often humorously close to the actual ‘act’ but not ‘smart’ enough to recognise the object. This results in descriptions as; “A woman is brushing her teeth in the bathroom,” whereas everyone knows that is not a toothbrush.”

Why?

I am very interested in the relation between viewer and object and how the medium in between it influences this relationship. In these works I tried to create a distance from the viewer towards internet pornography, usually seen in a ‘private’ ‘relationship between browser and person. 
I tried to create a distance between viewer and object by deliberately showing the medium as the viewer. In this way, I hope to raise multiple questions about our relation towards pornography and technology. As AI is growing and neural networks are used more and more as ‘smart’ objects, the question remains to the human influence on these networks. Clearly, in this case, there is not a ‘pornographic’ database, and still, these databases are only based on ‘human’ descriptions. The humorous result also creates a distance for the viewer to question their own relation to online-pornography and the meaning of these images.

Ipcam

What?

Ipcam is a 5-channel video-loop of screen recordings on online unprotected personal webcams. These recordings show people in their supposedly daily life. Sorting out medicine on the kitchen table, watching TV, sleeping, smoking. Interwoven with these recordings are my personal thoughts and imagined stories about the people who appear on these webcams. On one screen a story will appear while at the same time there are 4 webcams playing. This gives the viewer also the freedom to project my ‘stories’ on other people, making them able to craft in a sense their own story as well.

How?

During my research about privacy and the online, I stumbled across different articles about ‘unprotected IP-webcams’. It talked about how people can be spied on through their own webcams they put up, mostly because they didn’t think they would need a password or simply stuck to the standard one. Curious about these webcams I came across a website that has the world biggest directory of online surveillance security cameras. But I also saw that due to an automatic gathering process of these IP-cams also a lot of personal webcams were added to the database. I started bookmarking and following the people I came across, this period would take between 1 day to 3 weeks before the webcams got taken down.


Why?

My initial interest in doing this project was to expose the fragility of online-privacy or better said, the non-existence of online privacy. I was interested in what kind of different private situations I could find. But soon enough it became an obsession to follow the people I started viewing. They were puppets in a story I made up, like it was my own directed reality-tv show. It was possible for me to view those webcams at home, in a private space, but making it public also made it uncomfortable, revealing the voyeuristic stimulation private browsing has.

Being Indifferent

What?

For an exhibition called Being Indifferent, I explored the medium VHS for my project. It resulted in an analog video loop. This work consists of two old TV’s, a camera and two VHS recorders. On one screen you see the live image of the camera, and on the other one, the recorded image appears 30 seconds later.

How?

I was intrigued by the analog format of these recordings, being able to erase something for real, something not really possible anymore in the digital age. There are two VHS players/recorders that continuously loop one piece of VHS-tape between them. One of them is recording the live webcam registration on the piece of tape while the other one shows the recorded image on the TV. Seconds later what just has been shown will be taped over again by a new recording. 


Why?

I was interested in the medium SnapChat for a while. The idea that you can capture and share something (that is clearly a necessity nowadays) but also can ‘erase’ this captured moment. Being able to view things that ‘erase’ themselves after a couple of seconds. At the same time it will never really ‘erase’ itself, as digital traces of this will always exist. The effect is eerie when you just walk in, on one screen you see yourself on the screen, on the other one the room is empty, as if you don’t exist. But a moment later you see yourself walking in and the effect of seeing yourself on screen is as conspicuous as always. During the show a lot of people ironically enough made selfies of themselves on these ‘old’ tv screens. VHS is very trendy.

stevesuggests1