Beautification & Rarity

In a virtual digital space characterized by diversity, dispersion, and contingency, who decides what 'we' consider as beautiful? Ideology, our democratic society, artificial intelligence? Certainly not ‘us’, right? So how do algorithms and synthetic organisms look at faces? How does virtual and traditional capital penetrate and consume our daily masked but networked existence? How do organic desires emerge & disappear? What is the role of sexism, racism and ableism in this context?

The meaning of the digital face as a sign is derived from its relation to other signs. Scars and desires constitute the value & meaning of a face concerning contemporary imagery, technology, faith, tradition, and politics. Algorithmically-driven newsfeeds, the quantified self, and cosmetic surgery led to the emergence of a multitude of machine-biased views on the ‘ideal’ face.  Recursive loops throughout digital & physical realms create new forms of facial existences and #nonbinary tensions between spectra of self to other, virtuality to reality, and identification to difference. Symmetrical faces combined with forms of intelligence are a highly rare occurence and reflect concepts of rarity in collectibles #cryptopunks #judgement #collectibles #math #hardcoded #facialrecognition #gendering #nonbinary #nohomework #nopressure #judgement.

The ‘Beautification & Rarity’ seminar zooms in on Chinese and Korean social media & focuses on the creation of applied art. Together we try to examine our bias and develop ‘neutral’ attitudes through research-based art, Crypto (NFTs/blockchain), and digital media or alternate reality experiments. On a weekly basis, UBERMORGEN in collaboration with Echo Can Luo, drop a 'Beautification' NFT, and students are invited to drop & develop their own work. The goal is to discuss and critically reflect the weekly drops.