FaceMe

A performance commissioned by the Great Britain pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010. The performance is meant to bring the viewers’ attention to a layer of technology separating us from each other while it facilitates modern communications.

Design Goal

As we go about our daily lives we’re often completely unaware of how much technology is situated between two humans even in their simplest interaction. A phone conversation could be seen as a person talking to a bit of plastic with wires which she holds in her hand. Our goal was to emphasize this phenomenon and force people face this layer of technology. We placed them face to face with an ambiguous half-person/half-robot and by making them question its/her humanity make them aware of how similar they are to this creature.

Methodology

We build a touchscreen which translated a touch in a particular spot to a movement of the facial muscles of the artificial face on the screen making it assume a grimace. The face was modeled after the performer’s face and textured with the images of the grey plastic ‘grass’ on the floor of the pavilion. The artist is wearing a small camera and the screen has built-in goggles on the other side allowing the artist to see the audience and interact with them. The second screen on the artist’s chest shows the image of the audience from the camera.