History of New Media Art Essay
The love for our colleagues and friends does not pass with death. As a result, we need to commemorate and keep them in memory. “Level of Confidence” is a project that acknowledges that love does not fade with death. Rafael Lozano-Hemmer came up with a system in honor of the 43 students from Ayotzinapa Normalista School in Iguala, Guerrero, Mexico (Lozano-Hemmer, 2019). The students, who were victims of the kidnapping, faced brutal death, and, in solidarity and care for humanity, the system was developed immediately after the incidence. The system was officially released and used as an art project to commemorate the mass kidnapping and death of 43 students from the Ayotzinapa Normalista School in Iguala, Guerrero, Mexico. It was released on March 26, 2015, precisely six months after the kidnapping took place. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
The system uses Eigen, Fisher, and LBPH biometric surveillance algorithms. The system resembles the one used by military and security agencies to recognize the possible suspect through face recognition. Contrarily, this system is used to recognize the victims (Lozano-Hemmer, 2019). The system is developed in open-source code so that any other scholar can modify it and use it on the same purpose. The freeness created in the ownership and control of the system shows precisely the love that the developer had – there was no commercial interest as the system is available in GitHub for free download. The system can be used in universities, cultural galleries, or museums as an exhibition. Therefore, the interested party only requires downloading the system and providing a computer, screen, and a webcam (Lozano-Hemmer, 2019). Hence, for the application of the system, the primary need is a programmer with the knowledge of Open Frameworks so that he or she can make the possible version of the work.
The system works similarly as the security cameras used by the military and security agencies to recognize the suspects. The face-recognition searches for the faces of the victims whenever a person stands in front of it. Thus, the relatives of the deceased have to stand in front of the camera. The system searches for a similar face in the list of the deceased. The system uses algorithms to run the operation of recognition. The name ‘level of confidence’ is deduced from the accuracy achieved by the system is scanning the face and matching the possible deceased student (Lozano-Hemmer, 2019). Even though most of the students were murdered ad burnt beyond recognition, the system uses the overlap of the student’s image with the public’s facial feature.
The ‘Level of Confidence’ was launched in parallel to the exhibition in MUAC Museum, Mexico City, and in various universities, such as Iberoamericana, UAM, Universidad de las Artes, Universidad Autónoma de Aguascalientes, across Mexico (Lozano-Hemmer, 2019). The prototype of the system has bee viewed at Lozana-Hemmer’s exhibition at Art Bärtschi Gallery, Geneva. FOFA Gallery at Concordia University in Montréal and Universidad Nacional de Tierra del Fuego in Argentina are responsible for the showing of the piece (Lozano-Hemmer, 2019). However, more exhibitions are being planned by various entities.
The proceeds collected, when the piece is acquired for art collection, are used to support the families affected and the community. The supports include scholarships for new students at Normalista school and monetary support required for the accomplishment of such dreams. The system is published with 12 copies and a single AP with all the equipment, installation, and certificate of authenticity (Lozano-Hemmer, 2019). For acquiring, a person can visit any of Lozano-Hemmer’s galleries.
In conclusion, the new media art can be used to express humanity. Technologies have been used to overcome various barriers. The system honors the students affected by the kidnapping that left 43 students dead; the system matches the face of the students with those of the relatives. The relatives are only required to stand in front of the camera. The accuracy of the system can be seen through the provision of the most probable image.