Faceless: Re-inventing Privacy Through Subversive Media Strategies – 2019

At the 2019 CPDP Conference, Artist, researcher and curator Bogomir Doringer (Artistic Research PhD, University of Applied Arts Vienna) presented his ongoing project FACELESS that was published by de Gruyter, the book “Faceless: Re-inventing Privacy Through Subversive Media Strategies”. The project looks into a ritual of masking, attached to creative arts in contemporary post-9-11 society. The contributions to this book explore a phenomenon that appears to be a contradiction in itself – we, the users of computers, can be tracked in digital space for all eternity. Although, on the one hand, one wants to be noticed and noticeable, on the other hand, one does not necessarily want to be recognized at the first instance, being prey to an unfathomable public, or – even less so – to lose face. The book documents artistic and other strategies that point out options for appearing in the infinite book of faces whilst nevertheless avoiding being included in any records. The desire not to become a mere object of facial sell-out does not just remain an aesthetic endeavour. The contributions also contain combative and sarcastic statements against a digital dynamic that has already penetrated our everyday lives.

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