Vappu Jalonen

Moiré Has Never Looked Better on Your Face. Participating in Images

Text-based performances at

Experimental Event 2, Pori, 2012 (In Finnish)

Helsinki Photomedia – Photographic Powers conference, Helsinki, 2014

 

Machines stare at both human bodies and their photographs more keenly than before. Humans get photographed and filmed more and more often, often without them even noticing it. Facial recognition becomes commonplace. One of the techniques analyses the skin texture and turns the spots, lines and patterns of the skin into a mathematical space. Or an algorithm analyses the relative position, size and shape of the nose, cheekbones, jaw and the eyes and then compares this information to other images of faces.

While all this is happening I start to say yes when someone asks if they could photograph me.

 

In the performance I examine participating in images particularly from my own perspective as someone who is being photographed, both with and without consent. I also pay attention to the moiré phenomenon as something rubbing against the intention of the photographer.