Faces

about the piece

Work in Progress

The project deals with the transformation of identities in virtual space. It looks in particular at the depiction and representation of black people and asks how far the technological and asks to what extent the technological possibilities here could have emancipatory potential.

The project also refers in part to the history of the “Shirley Cards” as a historical example of the effects of a technologically implemented racial bias on the self-perception of Black people.

The “Shirley Cards” were used to calibrate photo and TV cameras in the 1950s. These cards were named after the model depicted on them, a white woman. For decades, technicians based the colours of image development and reproduction on the skin tone of the person depicted. Consequently, the films were designed to reproduce light (skin) tones particularly well. Dark colours were not very differentiated, the facial expressions of black people or models were difficult to depict without special lighting technology. Colour film also followed these standards.

In our project, we first deal with digital visualisations like StyleGan and try to create a series of video works from them.

videos

credits

Concept: Christoph Winkler | Dance: Lois Alexander  | Videodesign: Matthias Härtig, Gabriella Fiore | Produktionsleitung: Laura Biagioni

Funded by the Senate Department for Culture and Europe.

dates