Stevesuggests1

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 [that is interesting but it describes the works intention and not the work itself] . An image captioning neural network analyses [what is that, actually?] top hit porn movies from Pornhub based on a database of more than 330,000 images. The projection is a deliberately [<<why this adverb?] blurred image, only vaguely recognizing pink body images moving. A computer voice translates what the computer ‘sees’ on screen into a descriptive voiceover. [what does it say? please, in this paragraph, describe more what the viewer actually sees and experiences. I get a lot about the work's position or intention but I don't have a vivid image of what it is.]

How?

Using an open-source written code and an open-source database I let the neural network analyze 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 recognize 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 [<why this adverb?] 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. [how are these thoughts communicated?] On one screen a story will appear while at the same time there are four 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 are the elements of this piece presented and situated?]

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?

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.[simply describe this in greater detail, what do we see?] For an exhibition called Being Indifferent, I explored the medium VHS for my project. It resulted in an analog video loop.

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. [yes, why is that, do you think?]

[see wipe cycle

http://n3krozoft.com/_xxbcf67373.TMP/tv/wipe_cycle.html

early work by Dan Graham and Bruce Neuman

https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/3153

see also Thomson and craighead's use of surveillance camera's (short films about flying, for instance http://www.thomson-craighead.net/sfafdoc.html]