Face to Interface 

An interactive art installation powered by Artificial Intelligence

My role
I worked as Lead User Interface Designer and Creative Director

Final Master’s Degree brief: make interactive, machine-powered art with a lean, super-tuned team, to be shown as a pilot project at a sensational new exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

WHY AI?

Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming an ever-present technology in the creative, academic, and professional environment, yet human intelligence must more critically assess the potential impact of an AI driven world. The Imitation Game: Visual Culture in the Age of Artificial Intelligence was a pertinent 2022 Vancouver Art Gallery exhibition that allowed visitors to experience deep learning production processes first hand, and encouraged informed discourse around the use - and misuse - of such in all areas of Visual Culture.

REVEALING EMOTIONS

The prototype my team created allowed visitors to interact with ‘The Eye’ - AI software that reads facial expressions, then gauges related human emotional states. Once a face was read, the interface responded by mirroring the perceived emotion with an output of images pulled from its own extensive training dataset.

INCEPTION

To be able to create an appropriate interface for such an innovative show, I had to first discover what the future of cultural spaces could look like in a post-pandemic world. I found inspiration in viewing rooms, art fairs and virtual art conferences, social media casts and digital art marketplaces such as Mozilla Hubs, Somnium Space, the VOMA, Recto VRso, Laval Virtual, Frieze, ArtGateVR, Hauser & Wirth HWVR, CannesXR, Helsinki Fashion Week, CADAF Online, the MOR, the DiMoDa, Epoch Gallery, as well as virtual worlds powered by the blockchain such as SuperRare, Decentraland, RareAF, Async Art, Cryptovoxels 🧬 and many, MANY more.

STRICT MACHINES

In order to present viewers with a satisfying reading of the complex layering of their emotional states we looked into employing cutting-edge sophisticated face tracking and emotion analysis technology. 

We learned about affective computing – the way technical sensing systems and devices are learning to observe, read and understand human feelings. To teach a machine to understand emotional states, it can simply observe a human face.

Facial recognition technology can be used to classify expressions – a smile, frown or scowl – and to infer the emotional state of a person, such as ‘happy’, ‘sad’ or ‘angry’. It can be used from a distance, and can be performed without the knowledge of the individual. 

DEUS EX MACHINA

The Cyber Eye signified the beginning of the journey through this experience, and sat atop the stylised interfaces of four perpendicular LFDs, on a rigid 4-sided plinth, ever watchful for human presence. It served as a sentinel, biding its time, idly sending deep environmental space scans out to the foremost reaches of its vision, searching for human presence.

The Eye utilises the visual language of sacred geometry and divine symbolism - a Machine God, casting its vigilant eye over the world. The history of semantics would present this magical sigil as a sign of protection, good health and providence. But for whom - human, or machine?

OUTTAKES: VLAD’S LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS

when the machine had other plans

A VISION OF THE FUTURE

This installation was developed and finalized mid-pandemic, and designed for a touchless environment. Viewers need only stand in front of one of the screens and change their facial expression to actively engage with the piece.

ORIGINAL SCORE

Co-creating with AI software AIVA, our sound designer wove a short, darkly original composition, drawing inspiration from the pseudo-religious icon of the "ocular" used in the face reading prototype. They felt liturgic music composed by a computer, remixed and then performed by computers, would suit best.