Aesthetics of Surveillance
Germany 2014, 84 min

Kim Asendorf and Ole Fach turn a technological gaze on one of the world’s most-watched TV events: the “Miss Universe” competition. They filter the superficial spectacle through software that detects human faces, removing everything else from the final image. In general this works well, but there are continually false positives, for example, of clothes or stage ornaments, which turn the whole into a flickering ballet of vanities. And while the beholder might be amused, similar algorithms are optimized on a daily basis by myriads of datasets, neatly categorizing each aspect of human action and making them available for evaluation …

Kim Asendorf, *1981 lives and works in Bremen, Germany http://kimasendorf.com

Ole Fach, *1980 lives and works in Bremen, Germany http://www.olefach.com

The on-going screening series Phantom Horizons presents digital as well as analogue works that question the paradigm of linear perspective, seeking a new kind of “status perspective” [Bedeutungsperspektive]. The latter was a development of ancient and medieval painting, in which the size of figures is determined by their hierarchical significance. Extending this approach using the methodology of deconstruction and the possibilities of contemporary film creation, the presented works open up multifaceted, unseen horizons.

Curated by Robert Seidel http://www.robertseidel.com