IDENTITIES
by Chloe Harris
Project description
We have built a society based on sharing information about ourselves and involving others in our most private moments of life. This has become possible because of the large steps in technological evolution, leading to the worldwide use of affordable devices and social media.
Our identity is not only shared and observed by people, we now co-exist with artificial intelligence. As most sci-fi authors have told us over time, AI was developed to help us in our lives and facilitate the completion of our tasks, it also has a percentage of control and studies our behavior or, in some circumstances, our physical identity. We can observe these phenomena from the comfort of our home when search engines register online activity and consequently provide the user with content relevant to the input. Another familiar example is the facial recognition system which is now used to unblock personal devices such as smartphones or to perform digital signatures. Facial recognition systems have also been deployed in advanced human-computer interaction, video surveillance, and automatic indexing of images.
Being in daily contact with computers influences our behavior. Our continuous use of technology is modifying our thought stream and reality, in the same way, we have adapted technology to our needs, we have also adapted to the need of it. A cycle has begun in which artificial intelligence is inspired by human behavior and also has a direct effect on it. The computer brain is a reflection of our own, and the beauty of algorithms is set by human logic. We can observe an artificial reflection of ourselves to which we relate because of the similarity with its creator.
Computing has entered the art world and is used by artists to create visions reflecting our modern time and the technological breakthroughs describing it. With the advent and dissemination of Artificial Intelligence technologies in Contemporary Art, the question of digital aesthetics has arisen and we must face how our sensory perception of the world might be changed by a more ‘digital culture’.
My ‘IDENTITIES’ was created during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. I was inspired, if not led, by the digital aesthetics of this era including the work of great contemporary artists who use AI and Generative Adversarial Network to create mesmerizing art pieces. My transformational portrait has been influenced by the process behind machine learning and facial recognition, I have made use of several photographic portraits and isolated various facial features into sections to interpret the identity of a persona, just as a computer would do. The transitions within the moving portrait recall the fluidity with which we transform emotionally. In this case, it is the artist who is behaving like a computer to show her emotional self.
The work consists of a 10-minute-long video clip running in a loop, with the addition of sound effects and a melody created with a synthesizer so to complement the moving image and allow it to break free from the containment of a screen. The audience is no longer offered the single-point perspective of the film but is instead enveloped within a three-dimensional space. The beginning and the end are not pronounced, it is focused on the present. Inspired by the works of Bill Viola and ‘come out’ by Steve Reich, the video and sound are worked with feedback between images and between oscillators, the tempo is voluntarily distorted so to achieve a gradual and unexpected result. The piece is developed by video-recording the process of digital painting, editing the exported video, then working on the result with Touch Designer. The
Displace TOP in Touch Designer causes one image to be warped by another image, a pixel of the output image gets its RGBA value from a different pixel of the Source Image by using the second input image (the Displace Image). The sound was added later, although there was the possibility to make the video reactive to sound, I decided for the sound to appear to be reactive to the video. The image its self recalls the aesthetics of Flemish portraits and that of new technology aesthetics.
The technical research behind it includes digital painting, matte painting, video editing, pixel displacement, sound design, and musical production.
The applications and software I made use of include: Procreate, iMovie, Touch Designer, SynthOne, and Logic Pro.
I admire and have been inspired by artists and philosophers such as Refik Anadol, 404 collective, Dmitry Morozov, Bill Viola, Tomas Saraceno, Steve Reich, John Cage, Immanuel Kant, and Marleau Ponty.
Sound
Chloe created the sound for this video by using a synth simulation — Synth-One — and Logic-Pro. In the same way the image is created with pixel displacement and feedback, so is the sound created with attention to time and feedback between two oscillators. The intention was to value the moving image by complementing it with audio.
PRESENTATION
This work is best presented on-screen or projected, it can be resized depending on the necessity of the space or projected area. Although the artwork would be best shown with speakers, if installed with headphones available for the spectators it will not be disturbed by other sound art pieces, there will have to be attention in locating it in the proximity of other artworks which include light and are sensitive to illumination.
CHLOE B. HARRIS
Interdisciplinary artist
Chloe Beatrice Harris is a multidisciplinary artist from Siena, Italy, born in 1992. In 2017 she graduated with top marks at the LABA (Libera Accademia di Belle Arti) in Florence where she trained as a painting, mixed media, performance, and installation artist. She conducted a research on independent art realities such as Artist-run Spaces in Italy which is visible in her dissertation entitled “Lo spazio autogestito che definisce e contiene l'arte”, she also has been part of exhibitions in art galleries and international light art festivals. After graduation, she moved to Porto (Portugal) for an artist residence, during this time she organised experimental art events in various locations of the city and developed a series of events entitled MIDL (Music, Installation, Drawing, Light) during which she invited a group of artists from different backgrounds to collaborate and develop new artwork to be presented in a defined space and time involving a public - situations similar in description to a ‘happening’. The interest in mixing media such as music and digital art has reflected in her research and has pushed her to learn creative techniques outside of her comfort zone. Her main areas of interest are contemporary art, music production and sound design.
EXHIBITIONS
- Con Posto - curated by Fabio Cresci; held in: galleria Pietra Serena (Firenze, Italia); 2013
- Corrispondere - curated by Massimo Innocenti and Angelo Minisci; held in: palazzo Ghibellino, (Empoli, Italia); 2013
- Sosta - curated by Massimo Innocenti; held in: LABA, (Firenze, Italia); 2013
- Il continuo altrove - curated by Massimo Innocenti and Angelo Minisci; held in: Merlino bottega d’Arte, (Firenze, Italia); 2013
- Ad arco teso - curated by: Massimo Innocenti; held in: main square of Massa Marittima (Grosseto, Italia); 2013
- Sirene - curated by Massimo Innocenti and Angelo Minisci; held in: Edificio ex castello idraulico, Follonica (Grosseto, Italia); 2014
- Collettivo - curated by: Fabio Cresci; held in: Galleria Tannaz, (Firenze, Italia); 2015
- Geografie di confine - curated by Massimo Innocenti and Angelo Minisci; held in: Villa Pecori Giraldi, Museo Chini, Borgo san Lorenzo (Firenze, Italy); 2016
- Group vernissage - curated by Nicola Machetti; held in Multiverso, (Siena, Italy); 2016
- Mehr Licht - personal vernissage; held in: Bar le Logge, (Siena, Italia); 2017
-Reflection Tour - first prize and personal vernissage with Sara Cafarelli; curated by Sara Cafarelli; held Enoteca Italiana di Siena; 2017
- Open studio artist residency at Delicerais18; held in: travessa de Licerais, (Porto, Portugual); October, November 2017, January, 2018. - 5° Aniversàrio - curated by team of Galeria do Sol; held in: Rua Duque Loulé n 206 (Porto, Portugal), February, 2018.
- Salade Jantar Hotel Santo Isidro- curated by Chloe Harris and staff of atelier SantoIsidro, performed by Pierre Pierre Pierre, Mariana Sardon and Bruce Paolino; held in: Atelier SantoIsidro, tv. Santo Isidro (Porto, Portugal); March, 2018.
- Poliambient - curated and performed by Chloe Harris with collective; held in: Atelier SantoIsidro & Atelier Etrusca (Porto, Portugal); March, 2018.
- Lapse - curated and performed by: Chloe Harris and Margarida Fragueiro; held in: Atelier SantoIsidro, tv. Santo Isidro (Porto, Portugal); May, 2018. - Aberturas Simultaneas - organized by: Chloe Harris with collaboration of various artist run spaces and ateliers; held in: rua Anselmo Braancamp, rua da Alegria and travessa de Santo Isidro, (Porto, Portugal); September, 2018.
-Open studio hosting performance BABYBRUTAL - performed by David Bastos and Alex Rodrigues Lazaro, Andy James, Margarida Fragueiro, Raph- ael Cortés and Chloe Harris, curated by Chloe Harris; held in: Broca, (Porto, Portugal); September, 2018.
-Crude - hosting a synth jam performed by “Patches” & illustration exhibition by Miranda Smart, curated by Chloe Harris; held in: Broca (Porto, Por- tugal); December, 2018.
-M I D L - Music performed by Mister Teaser, Installation by Chloe Harris, Drawing by Joana R.Sa, Light performance by Pedro de Castro Pinto; cu- rated by Chloe Harris; held in: Broca, (Porto, Portugal); February, 2019.
-M I D L - Music by Octopussy Crew, Drawing by Vitor Ferreira, Installation by Juna Wesley; curated by Chloe Harris; held in BROCA (Porto, Portugal); March 2019.
-M I D L - Collective show; curated by Chloe Harris; held in IRL (Porto, Portugal); June 2019.
-Subtilezas- painting and sculpture exhibition, held in DaysAre art gallery (rua de Bombarda, Porto, Portugal).
- Bellaskyway Festival- installation: Loom, Light art festival, (Torún, Poland), August 2019.
- Luza Festival- installation: LOOM, (Faro, Algarve, Portugal), November 2019.
-Dreamers- painting exhibition, held in Armaizem art gallery (Porto, Portugal), February 2020.
CONTACTS
You can get in contact with Chloe by sending her an email or an Instagram message. Please note she will only receive visits in her studio in Porto (Portugal), by appointment.
ATELIER: rua Anselmo Braancamp, Porto.