Course: Wild Hybrids / Year One Topic Studio

female4_SMALL

This project began by choosing a specific “explorer” and deeply understanding one daily routine in the explorer’s life. The final project was to design a tool that related to a routine of that explorer. I picked Onnagata as my explorer and tried to understand their makeup. The Onnagata is a special Kabuki actor that only plays female roles in Kabuki dramas. After researching the subject, I begin to think about how people see others as their gender. Those actors see themselves as neither men nor women, they consider themselves as the third gender. How do machines or computers see us? What really matters with all the facial recognition software and surveillance cameras today? What is “makeup” to this software? Starting with this question, I did a serious experiments about how to trick facial recognition software. After experimenting with materials as well as patterns, I found out that this software sees us as lines and dots. Based on results from my experiments, I turned my assumptions into 3D objects that you can wear and change your identity everyday. The last version are facial masks that can make you into someone else. It can shift your gender, race, age, or, allow you to be unrecognizable to facial recognition software.