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Paper short abstract:

The New Vitruvian is a performance that examines body-doubles created by AI technology. A performer spends time with a recognition algorithm, allowing it to analyze her body. Mostly, it recognizes her as a ‘Person’, but there are moments in which she is detected as something other-than-human.

Paper long abstract:

The superimposed man inscribed within a circle and a square in Leonardo's 'Vitruvian Man' is meant to represent the ideal person's measurements, a creature who is a microcosm of the grander spheres and its proportions can be relied upon for the definition of the universe. Today humans are superimposed by their digital doubles and inscribed within bounding boxes. What do these measurements do? And how do they define the universe? Our doppelgangers are formed from metadata that accumulates within our interactions with digital media. What is the relationship between our bodies and these digital doubles? Do they mirror our attributes? Do they enable us the freedom to reconsider ourselves and transform? Or maybe they are just a systematic error within the logic of the code? The New Vitruvian is an art performance that examines the potential of identity transformation through the lens of AI technology. The performer spends time in front of an AI recognition algorithm, consenting for it to detect and analyze her body. Most of the time, the algorithm recognizes her as a human being, a 'Person', but there are flickering moments in which she is detected as something other-than-human. These alternative classifications include various animals and objects which are suddenly recognized while the performer moves around. The paper will discuss the implications of misrepresentations by AI algorithms and speculate a future in which this technology composes digital avatars for the entire population.

The paper is based on 'The New Vitruvian' performance: http://www.avitalmeshi.com/the-new-vitruvian-2022.html