ofNoiseFace installtion highlights on vimeo.

Video of installation on twitter.

Very inspired by Gustavo Torres KIDMOGRAPH "Mr. No ID."

Using OpenFrameworks C++ library, Kyle McDonald's ofxFaceTracker, and Chris Baker's ofxPS3EyeGrabber, I set up a streaming video camera in the storefront windows of my home. The video camera tracks a face then replaces the face with a digital TV noise-esque mask. It also reveals the faces and spirits in the walls of our buildings, in the wheels of our vehicles, and in the ether of the air.

There was an interesting response from the neighborhood. Most people found it to be very funny and playful. One person put tape on the window to cover up the camera in a way that was very similar feeling to covering a camera on a laptop for fear of unwanted surveillance. I left the tape on the window for a while because I thought of it as a sort of ad hoc collaboration, to which I replied in text on the streaming video "I'm not your big brother." Also, A USPS employee also asked me if I had recorded video to see if they could figure out who stole mail from their truck after the installation had been removed.

In retrospect I didn't realize how much I was dealing with identity and surveillance. The open source tools that track faces are based on contrast in facial contours, and had been trained on many faces to recognize such, which has had a hard time tracking people with darker skin tones. It was also around the time when face swaps and other facial recognition software was on the rise.