Surveillance and Camouflages

by Jarkko Räsänen

For Surveillance & Camouflage Räsänen used footage from the UTV archives that were categorised as “protest” material. The artist included all the original material without emphasising specific aspects of the content - they simply are a proof of what has been decided worth saving and cataloguing at a certain point of the digitisation process. The original footage has been driven through an AI that tries to recognize faces from the surroundings and detect the emotions people are having. Additionally, the collage has been datamoshed, a technique or a “hack" that makes the scenes on video blend into each other in a dreamy way, often rendering “camouflages" over the faces appearing on them. Work intends to point out the obvious fact that technology can be used to control, but also to break the rules (of realism). Watch a short sample of the 25 minute video work: