![]() ![]() I think there are other interesting examples of works of art, even from 20 years ago, before we started talking about facial recognition software or deepfakes, where users were invited to upload pictures in order to become someone else, such as (Heath Bunting and Olia Lialina)’s Identity Swap Database (from 1999) or Cheryl L’Hirondelle’s Treaty Card (from 2002), both now critically endangered works of net art, in which you could put your photo in and the system would make you new pieces of identification which you could actually use in the real world. You invite people in the web version of the work to upload their own picture, and yet, when I did it yesterday, I didn't know who I would be turned into – I didn’t want to be Boris Johnson! But suddenly I was there, speaking his words, with that kind of embodiment. By the time they got to our hall, their deepfakes were on the large screens. In that group exhibition, our assistants asked people waiting in line to enter if they wanted to be photographed to be part of one of the artworks. That tension is a very conscious part of the project and that's what makes the piece stronger: when you participate and soon thereafter see your face in public on the large screen, as in the premiere of Lend Me Your Face! in the Artists’ Association show “Götzendämmerung” in Haus der Kunst. ![]() Playing with that dynamic, that tension between people's desire to see their faces on the big screen and their realisation that it could be problematic for them personally. On the one hand, seducing people to lend their faces on the other hand, exposing them publicly, mouthing the words of public figures they may or may not actually support. That's part of what I play on with Lend Me Your Face!. Selfie culture is such a compelling addiction that it overwhelms caution. Many rioters who stormed the US Capitol building on January 6 did not hide their identity behind a mask and even took selfies while engaging in clearly illegal activities. ![]()
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