Medusa’s Look美杜莎的凝视
This artwork explores the potential impact of machine gaze on image manipulation. Inspired by film scholar Thomas Elsaesser, who metaphorically likened the gaze of machines to the gaze of Medusa, turning unprepared opponents into stone through perilous surveillance. This serves as a metaphor for manipulating images. By acquiring surveillance footage from the camera at the Roman Pantheon Square and subsequently fabricating the recorded video, a new visual composition is created. The video showcases stationary fountains, vanishing pigeons, and incomplete pedestrians, where individuals seemingly passing by may appear at the same location in reality with an hour's interval. Despite sourcing all materials from surveillance, rearranging the technological images produces an alternative 'truth.' By distorting and reordering the surveillance video footage, the blurry boundary between reality and fiction is exhibited. Additionally, I present forged evidence within the video, highlighting how people's trust in manipulated images can easily lead them to overlook details and make erroneous judgments. The disorientation of time and space in this new composition evokes a sense of strangeness, requiring viewers to carefully observe for some time to perceive the unusual elements.
Through this artwork, I aim to raise the audience's awareness of machine gaze and image manipulation, challenging their perceptions of truth and reality. It delves into the significance of images in an information society and their susceptibility to manipulation. Furthermore, I hope to stimulate discussions on privacy, surveillance, and the impact of technology on human life.
该影像探讨了机器凝视对于图像操作的潜在影响。灵感来自于电影学家Thomas Elsaesser，他将机器的凝视比喻为美杜莎的凝视，通过危险的监视将没有准备的对手立刻石化。这是对操作图像的隐喻。通过网络获取到罗马万神庙广场的监控摄像头画面，将录制的监控视频伪造成了一个新的画面。这个视频里会出现静止的喷泉，突然消失的鸽子，以及身体不完整的路人，甚至看似擦肩而过的人可能在现实中的同一地点相隔一个小时才出现。尽管素材全部来源于监控，但是对技术图像的重新排列就可以制造另一个‘真相’。通过扭曲和重新排列监控视频素材，展示了现实与虚构之间的模糊边界。同时在视频里我也展示了伪造的证据，由此可见人们对于操作图像的信任很容易使人们放过一些细节而做出错误的判断。这个新的画面中，时间和空间的错位给人一种离奇的感觉，观众需要花费一段时间进行仔细观察才能察觉到其中的不寻常之处。
我希望通过这个作品唤起观众对于机器凝视和图像操作的警觉性。试图挑战观众对于真相和现实的认知，探索图像在信息社会中的重要性和易受操纵的性质。同时，我也希望引发关于隐私、监视以及技术对人类生活影响的讨论。