#mirrormirroronthewall

Mirror mirror on the wall… who is ….?

This artworks reflects us. It is observing you when it’s observed! Are we fine with that or does it feel awkward. In the exhibition Licht, Liebe, Leben at Art Porters Gallery (15Mai-27June 2021) I installed a fish-eye camera in the artwork. An live stream of the video is shown on an iPad at the entrance beneath the wall text. Will visitors ask about it? Will people find the camera if you call them attention to a hidden camera?

This artwork is a combination of common materials used in South East Asian art. The rattan fish tray is open-worked with a gilded canvas, a piece of textile, embroidered with shiny seed beads, crystals and a gold thread is hiding the colorful LED rings. The light show is controlled by an Arduino UNO.

In the center of the small LED ring is space left for a camera. Any camera, small enough can be placed from the backside through the hole. For the exhibition at Artporters, I chose a fish eye camera, but before I did experiments with an ESP32-S-Cam. This camera is offering its video feed to the clients in the same network. The software runs a face detection and recognition algorithm on its observer. You can teach the program to remember you as a subject- or you can be an intruder.

Here a small video with the ESP32-S-Cam: