Masks have become popular and expressive means of undermining surveillance technologies. In this hybrid lecture and workshop session, artists María Angélica Madero and Joselyn McDonald will reflect on the evolution of surveillance over the last century and review strategies that artists and technologists are using to resist facial recognition surveillance.

María Angélica Madero will explore the contemporary significance of masks—shielding the respiratory system from viral infection, protecting protestor anonymity, and weathering climate change-induced natural disasters—and will teach participants how to create augmented reality face filters. Joselyn McDonald will lead a tutorial, using flora and other readily available organic materials, to create masks that undermine an algorithms' ability to recognize a human face. The session will conclude with the opportunity for participants to make their own anti-surveillance masks.

Please bring materials you would like to use for mask making to the workshop.

Suggested materials include: wildflowers, soft branches and stems, and tall (soft) grasses. If you cannot access natural materials, consider collecting household materials like paper strips, crafting materials, and cloth. Strongly pigmented makeup is also a good option. To attach materials, we suggest bringing bobby-pins, hair clips, and/or cosmetic glitter glues (aka Spirit Gum).

Saturday, July 18, 2020

2pm - 4pm (EST)

Registration fees: This workshop is PWYC ($20 suggested donation). Please note that the fee can be waived if it is a financial barrier to participation. Send an email to education@interaccess.org and we will manually register you to the workshop.

After registering you will receive an email with a Zoom event link a few days prior to the workshop. Contact education@interaccess.org for any questions.

About the Instructors:

Joselyn McDonald (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist, critical maker, and creative researcher whose work centers on issues relating to power, gender, and the Anthropocene. Often her work includes emergent technologies, recycled electrical components, and found materials. McDonald’s work has been exhibited widely including at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Leaders in Software and Art, ACM Siggraph, Sketching in Hardware, Designing Interactive Systems, and Revisius Textor.

María Angélica Madero is a Colombian Mexican-born artist and curator currently working as Associate Professor at the London Interdisciplinary School, United Kingdom. Maria holds a BA in Art from Los Andes University in Bogota. She also holds two MAs in Art (Sculpture) and Philosophy and Contemporary Critical Theory, from the Slade School of Fine Art, UCL and Kingston University, Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy, England. She is currently doing a PhD in Philosophy, Art, and Social Thought from the European Graduate School in Switzerland working with media theory and complexity. From 2015, Maria was Head of Visual Arts at El Bosque University, Bogota where she created projects like Multiespecies, that tried to hack the ecological unconscious of students, and Prologue, where curators visited the student’s studios. She has taught at Los Andes University, Escuela de Artes y Letras and Unitec in Bogota, Colombia. She has also worked as an independent photographer and translator and she is also a musician and a writer. Maria has exhibited in cities including London, Edinburgh, Seoul, Sandes, Mexico City, Santiago de Cali, Bogota, Barranquilla, Madrid, Los Angeles, Oslo, Pereira, and Berlin. Her work explores the materiality of language and gestures and includes digital mediums (like virtual reality, 3d modeling, HD video) with a sculptural thought, crossing disciplinary boundaries. She is part of several international collectives like (Play)ground-less, UHIM (Heterogeneous Unity of Moving Images), Carnaval Digital and No te oigo (contemporary music).

Questions? If you have any questions about the workshop or special requirements, please contact us at education@interaccess.org.

Cancellation and Rescheduling Policy: We are unable to accommodate attendee cancellations or refunds less than 1 week prior to a workshop or event. InterAccess reserves the right to cancel or reschedule this workshop if necessary.

Image credit: María Angélica Madero, 2020.

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This workshop is part of Vector Festival 2020: Online Edition. Vector Festival is a participatory and community-oriented initiative dedicated to showcasing digital games and creative media practices. Presenting works across a dynamic range of exhibitions, screenings, performances, lectures, and workshops, Vector acts as a critical bridge between emergent digital platforms and new media art practice.