Automatic for the people (2021)

The project investigates the ambiguous role of images, technology and the web in distinguishing reality from fiction – a process that tends to undermine and disrupt democracy. Automatic for the people (AFP) reflects on the excess of information produced, its circulation and its manipulation.
The 2021 storming of the US Capitol from supporters of former president Trump is a paradigmatic event of this epoch. The event received extensive media coverage also due to the visual material (images and videos) produced by the crowd. The FBI used these materials along with artificial intelligence image recognition algorithms in order to identify and arrest many of the demonstrators.
Automatic for the people scans and analyze the abundant visual material produced as a sort of parallel investigation using similar tools (image recognition technologies and algorithms, 3D modelling software).
Initially, we made the algorithm search a few keywords such as ‘person holding phone’ within the public archive related to the event. Then we mapped most of the faces in the photographs or videos. Eventually we converted the protesters in CGI or videogame-like characters.