[ISEA2015] Paper: Leo Selvaggio – URME Surveillance: Analyzing Viral Face-crime

Abstract (Short paper)

Keywords: Surveillance, Subversion, Identity, Performance, FacialRecognition, Data, Power structure, Prejudice, Prosthetic.

This self-reflective art paper examines my position within the ecology of surveillance art focused around facial recognition. URME Surveillance, transforms my identity into a defense technology for the public’s protection against facial recognition software. This project encourages the public to substitute their identity for my own by wearing a 3d printed prosthetic mask made in my likeness. This paper will begin by examining our relationship to surveillance and identity by discussing the surveillance system in Chicago as a case study. I will then discuss the work of Adam Harvey and Zac Blas as two contemporary artists working with identity recognition technologies. I will then use their work as a jumping off point for my own, discussing the strategies that lead me to URME Surveillance including an overview of its successes and failures

  • Leonardo Selvaggio, Independent Artist, Chicago, IL, USA. As an artist, I investigate the entanglements of identity with technology. I treat identity as data that can be manipulated, hacked, or even corrupted in our increasingly digital and networked society. Within the larger context of surveillance, my work examines how this data is subject to systems of oppression and patriarchal power that exploit and co-opt our personal identities for institutional gain. In “URME Surveillance”, rather than hide the public from cameras, I invite users to wear a photo-realistic 3D printed prosthetic of my face. Thus, facial recognition systems attribute the wearer’s actions as my own. In doing so, I enable the user to subvert highly networked surveillance through the creation and proliferation of disinformation. I received my MFA from Columbia College’s Interdisciplinary Arts MFA program in 2014. My work has shown in New York, Chicago, Florida, New Mexico, France, and Canada. In 2014, I received the Albert P Weisman award for my work URME Surveillance and also exhibited my work, URME Polygons, in Art2Make, hosted by College Arts Association’s annual conference. In 2015 URME Surveillance was selected for the Art Souterrain festival in Montreal, ISEA 2015 conference in Vancouver, and the Saint-Etienne Design Biennial in France to name a few. URME Surveillance has been featured in Hyperallergic, Techcrunch, The Washington Post, CNET, The Verge, The Creator’s Project and others.  leoselvaggio.com

Full Text (PDF)  p. 245-248