This installation scans the facial features and characteristics of the person looking in the mirror and compares them with those of many other portraits in a database that includes individuals that have become famous for being controversial or who are even criminals in some cases. Once the similarity has been established, a computerised voice publicly announces the name of the person identified with each viewer, highlighting the increasing use of biometric technology in the public space which according to Nijs, is something that should arouse our scepticism.

Marnix de Nijs is a Dutch artist whose work explores the dynamic clashes between bodies, machines and technology in contemporary society. Many of his artworks are interactive experience machines that play with the perception of image and sound. De Nijs’s work has been widely exhibited in the Netherlands and abroad. He has collaborated with artist Edwin van der Heide, Time’s Up, Nederlands Instituut voor Mediakunst, V2_ Institute for the Unstable Media, ZKM, Technische Universität Darmstadt and, recently, Tsinghua University.

http://www.marnixdenijs.nl