Artificial intelligence and machine learning are key concepts of our time. Just as coal and iron were the raw materials of the Industrial Revolution, data is the raw material of today’s economy. The art project “Datamirror” by artists Anders Eiebakke and Nando Schneider focuses on these digital raw materials and technologies that increasingly determine our lives, and exposes their methods.
Passers-by can look into a ‘data mirror’ in the shop window as they pass. Once they have given their consent by gesturing, a camera and screen display data generated by major technology companies based on their own reflection in the ‘data mirror’. The artists reveal a process that is already taking place in many areas of life – mostly unnoticed by us.
At first glance, the data collected from the images, such as eye and hair colour, state of mind or distance between ears and corners of the mouth, appear meaningless. However, further processing reveals the dimension and potential of this data, which can be used to make statements about a wide variety of contexts – ethnicity, financial status, purchasing or voting behaviour are just some of them. The “Datamirror” project addresses these issues and is an invitation to passers-by to self-reflect on the reflection of their own appearance in public space compared to their digital appearance.
Anders Eiebakke, born in 1970 in Oslo, lives and works in Oslo. Nando Schneider, born in 1982, lives and works in Munich.
