Hands are part of the body language of humans, both on a conscious and on an unconscious level. Sometimes they seem to possess a life of their own and communicate more than what their owner means to convey, opening up hidden emotions and involuntary messages.

While we put AI on a pedestal for its intelligence, its depiction of our hands tells a different story. Within the unclear distinction between physical and digital reality, hands, known for communicating hidden messages, now reveal one too. It  deforms and multiplies them. These anomalies not only reveal that ‘’AI is present’’, but also that it is dependent on human hands as tools to grasp reality – through their clicks on a trackpad and as a material for training data. In this scattered industrialised human resource farm, discarded training data shows our joint struggle to grasp each other's realities. While we cater to AIs wishes, we slowly become interdependent and lay our livelihood in artificial hands.

In this symbiotic relationship, hands are, like a visible sign under the surface, signalling a juggle between trust and sacrifice, recognition and estrangement in the formation of our reality.



Teaser

Documentation video 

‘’The relationship with my phone used to feel like a one-way relationship. But now it isgetting more intelligent and is able to talkback sometimes. Swiping from advertisementto advertisement, I’m in a continuous feedback loop of who I consciously- but also unconsciously am. Or maybe; of who I shouldbe?’’

This ongoing conversation is laid bare in a photobook novel, where brutally honestdata is kept chronologically. The feedbackloop manifests itself directly, with a huge delay, or not at all. It is not always clear what influences what, yet biases present themselves. In the narrative, elements like maintaining a healthy lifestyle, migration and being in a relationship are misconstrued as signs of pregnancy, contrary to reality. These assumptions found in the personalized ads, result in a distored self-perception. As the story unfolds, the ads seem to take sides, endorsing the partner's perspective in conflicts and subtly probing whether the user is trapped in a toxic relationship. Initially promoting casual alcohol consumption and dating, the ads gradually escalate to the point of advocating behaviors that result in liver problems and sexually transmitted diseases.

Over 770 million security cameras worldwide are watching over us. Even though, they are here to secure us from danger -like yet another god who is always by our side- it is easy to enter their minds and become a viewer through their eyes. While breaking into surveillance cameras, I started to feel empathy for them. I developed the tendency to recognize animalistic- and human traits in security systems. A sense of pareidolia might even occur to them -the security systems- as well. Seeing familiarities where there are none.

How do they view themselves? Who’s domesticating who?