State of the Art
Put on your internet face
French designer Alix Gallet has a bag of tricks to fool biometric recognition technology.
 |
| "Tricking Biometrics" by Alix Gallet (Portrait picture: Femke Rijerman. Model: Julia Bocanet). |
In an age when our online privacy is constantly being eroded, Alix Gallet challenges the status quo with an unusual approach: humour. “Tricking Biometrics”, her graduation project from Design Academy Eindhoven, includes a series of fake noses and ears resembling a set of old-school magician’s disguises but they are one element is her intriguing conceptual project.
The increasing use of software with the ability to recognise and analyse the unique physical traits of humans – such as fingerprints, retina or facial structure – is introducing a record of our bodies to the internet.
This ever-evolving technology, known as biometrics, continues to improve in accuracy as fast as our means of data replication. However, as Gallet points out, we don’t have any guarantees regarding if and how this data may be used.
Our digital and physical identity are merging, she says.
Sensible Data Wants to Breach Your Privacy
Martin Hertig's project leaks your data to other users
Created by ECAL designer Martin Hertig, Sensible Data is a machine that collects personal data from volunteers and purposefully leaks it. It consists of three machines that create a ‘passport’ based on evaluations of mood, beauty, age and gender. The information collected is sent to another random participant without notification, while the current user is also ‘leaked’ the details of the previous user. Input comes in the form of a selfie, taken with the supplied iPad, and an email sent by the user.
THE IMMORTAL
A number of life-support machines are connected to each other, circulating liquids and air in attempt to mimic a biological structure. The Immortal investigates human dependence on electronics, the desire to make machines replicate organisms and our perception of anatomy as reflected by biomedical engineering.
Afterlife Batery
The afterlife battery can be used to run a range of memorial products chosen to suit the needs of the individual. Utilization of the battery in a meaningful product offers both psychological and emotional benefit. Where to put the battery is an extremely personal and emotive choice. A torch provides a poignant output for the battery, light already being associated with security and comfort. The person’s energy once converted into a beam of light can continue for eternity One might choose to rarely use the product, preserving the potential energy for special moments such as birthdays or anniversaries.
The Afterlife batteries of couples could be combined to provide double the power or amp-hours and also suggesting an ongoing co-existence after death. Afterlife offers a contemporary and scientifically validated service that acknowledges ourselves as chemical entities providing perhaps the only genuine guarantee of life after death.
Neri Oxman's Lazarus death masks visualise the wearer's last breath
Neri Oxman and the MIT Mediated Matter group have unveiled their latest collection of 3D-printed death masks, designed to contain the wearer's last breath.
The Lazarus masks, described by Oxman as "air urns", are modelled on the facial features of the deceased individual.
Each 3D-printed structure encompasses colourful swirling patterns that have been informed by the physical flow of air emitted from their last breath.
"Traditionally made of a single material, such as wax or plaster, the death mask originated as a means of capturing a person's visage, keeping the deceased alive through memory," said the team.
"Lazarus serves as an air urn memento that is a new form of 3D-printed portraiture, combining the wearer's facial features while serving as a spatial enclosure for their last breath."
VisorHood
As Natsuki read more and more stories of people choosing to end their lives, she couldn’t help but think about the idea of "going together." The fear and the stress of the idea of being left behind, alone, can be so unthinkable, that some elderly couples choose to die together. (Her research revealed that in many cases, it almost doesn’t matter if both people are in poor health, or if only one of them is.) After learning more and conducting further expert interviews, Natsuki came to believe that if a couple feels they have lived full lives, and want to leave this world with their loved one, then they should have the choice to do so, together. She reasoned, "We shouldn't promote or romanticize the idea of double suicide, but perhaps we shouldn’t condemn it either."
On October 27, 2015, Peter and Pat Shaws ended their life together, both at the age of 87. They had a wonderful life together, and they couldn’t imagine life without each other. According to an article, The Big Sleep, their quality of life began to decrease as they aged and they chose to end their lives while they still had control over their life. Their three daughters were supportive of their decision.
Inspired by this story, and to respect the decision of a devoted couple reaching the end of their lives, Natsuki created a Couple Hood. The hood is inspired by Sharlotte Hydorn’s suicide hood, which uses helium. Breathing an inert gas like helium leads to loss of consciousness and eventually a peaceful death within fifteen minutes.
This method is said to be a fairly simple and painless way to die, since the body reflexively wants to breathe, but does not really care what it is breathing. When people breathe pure helium—or any other inert gas such as nitrogen—they don't actually feel any sensation of suffocation. They simply fall unconscious after a minute or so, and within fifteen minutes, are gone peacefully. With Couple Hood, two people put the hoods over their heads; one person turns a valve to release the gas from the tank, and the other person turns another valve, closing the system and trapping the gas inside of the hood. This design therefore requires the partnership and the participation of both parties to achieve their goal.
Througout Natsuki’s research and interviews, she was often reminded that death is not just about sadness. "When a person has control over it," she argued, "they can actually celebrate life—before it's too late."
Inspired to create design work around the this insight, Natsuki created and prototyped The farewell party—a dining experience that celebrated the life of Crysdian Llemson, a 46-year-old man who has been HIV-positive since he was 11 years old. The dying process is an intimate practice, so Natsuki wanted to create a personal experience where a group of people could come together to reframe the way they approach death. On March 20th, 2016, Crysdian and his close friends spent an intimate evening together around a dining table designed by Natsuki. The tablecloth brought the experience together, and served as a blank canvas for conversations about friendship, about life, and about death.
Reacties
Een reactie posten