We are all fascinated by human and machine interactions, but we are also scared by rapid technological developments and the evolving boundary between the real and digital worlds. Artist Yi-Shan Shih has been investigating these issues for a few years now.
The founder for the Air Autogenous Power Manifesto, Shih is chiefly interested in technology, arts, new media and cultural phenomena and often questions through his works the commercial monopolization of technology.
In recent years, Yi-Shan Shih has been working on an ongoing exploration of facial recognition and the potential future forms of punishment in the digital age. Yet, to contemplate the latter, the artist suggests that we should first comprehend the concept of "digital twin", designed to simulate, analyze, and predict the behavior and performance of a physical object or system.
Shih tried to find an answer examining the notion of punishment procedures set in the near future in his exhibition "Punishment 2030" at Taipei Fine Arts Museum (on until today).
"Punishment 2030" crafts a fictional world that scrutinizes the dynamics of crime and punishment within the concept of a digital twin system, most commonly applied in industrial processes. This system accurately reproduces a physical environment within a digital simulation on an informational platform. In this project, the sentencing processes mirror and penalize the "wrongdoings" individuals commit in the real world, through their actions on social media.
The exhibition starts with "The Anti-Government Chain in the Age of Facial Recognition": visitors are given the choice to provide their facial data through the facial recognition device in the center of the exhibition space. This data is then instantaneously uploaded into a database prepared by the artist, generating fictitious faces displayed on the left screen.
On the right wall, legally obtained facial data is reconfigured into fictitious faces designed to evade the verification systems of certain Chinese social platforms using various facial review technologies. These faces, alongside their registration locations, collectively compose a map of facial data circulating through the streets.
In the subsequent project, "The Art of Governing the Mind and Soul," Shih employs the computational principle of natural language processing to craft a new digital landscape. By utilizing a "web crawler" program, the artist automatically gathers a variety of hashtag topics from the internet. Subsequently, a real-time computing program is employed to generate "digital landscape evolution patterns."
Each set of hashtag topics transforms into coordinates based on the "machine operation principles" governing the online world, ultimately giving rise to fresh landscapes and geospatial relationships. In essence, the digital landscape takes shape based on the existing internet cultural ecosystem and the operational logic of the machines within that ecosystem.
The exhibition culminates in the final segments, "Future Forms of Punishment under Digital Twin Technology 1 and 2," where Shih reflects on AI virtual beings.
According to the artist, in future these entities may become integral components of our society. However, they currently lack the status of "legal subjects" or "rights holders"; consequently, any legal sentencing must be directed towards the users responsible for these virtual entities.
Yet challenges related to punishing digital crimes and the widespread issue of digital onlookers - as exemplified in the Korean "Nth Room" case (a criminal case involving blackmail, cybersex trafficking, and the spread of sexually exploitative videos via the Telegram app between 2018 and 2020 in South Korea) - have surfaced. Furthermore, concerns have arisen regarding new security mechanisms within the evolving "metaverse." This section tries to investigate whether there are new metrics in a society entwined with machines that can assess all our actions in the digital realm.
The second part of this segment is structured into three sections. The first section elucidates the "Digital Punishment Code" to explain the mechanics of the punishment system. Here, visitors can gain a comprehensive understanding of the inner workings that may govern these novel forms of penalties. The second section introduces the "Digital Punishment Space," while the third section provides a glimpse of wearable devices and future prison designs. In this creative exploration, Shih delves into the potential scenarios of a world where transgressions are monitored and addressed through advanced technology.
Within these environments, Shih explores topics like "digital harassment within digital space," "violent onlookers," "online anonymity mechanisms," and "online bullying tools," further probing the landscape of potential future punishment mechanisms and exposing the challenges that lie ahead in maintaining order and justice in these intangible domains.
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