Random Strings of Emotions (eine Studie von Gesichtsausdrücken aus algorithmischer Perspektive)

Emotion recognition software analyses our emotions by deconstructing our facial expressions into temporal segments that produce the expression, called Action Units (AU - developed by prof. Paul Ekman) and deducting them into certain percentages of six basic emotion, happy, sad, angry, surprised, scared and disgusted.

In this video work the artist uses this decoding system to turn the process around. Here - instead of detecting Action Units - a computer is used to generate a random string of these AU’s. In this way complex and maybe even non-existing emotion expressions are discovered. These randomly formed expressions, played in random order, is then analysed by professional emotion recognition software again.

This project is funded by Creative Industry Fund (NL), EMARE grant. And supported by Werkleitz Gesellschaft e.V. The emotion software is FaceReader, with the help of the Usability Lab, Communication and Multimedia Design, Amsterdam University of Applied Science