‘Uncanny Mirror’

Recognising ourselves in a mirror is a basic human skill, an ability that sets us apart from the vast majority of animal species. From around 20 months old, we are aware of our own image; in short, we know what we look like.

This certainty is challenged by Uncanny Mirror, an artwork created by AI pioneer Mario Klingemann. Using artificial intelligence, this interactive installation produces real-time digital portraits of viewers. It analyses biometric face markers as well as information on pose and hand movements, then presents a painterly image based on everything it has previously seen. A reflection of how the machine views its observer.

For Klingemann, whose AI art often explores the human form, audiences are “an interesting source of data,” inputs that lend unpredictability and risk. His installation is constantly learning, assimilating the data of everyone who looks into this unusual mirror. Each new portrait draws on the machine’s accumulated knowledge; each face it produces contains something of those who went before.

We’ve all seen our reflections a thousand times. Yet Klingemann’s artwork offers a new perspective. Will we recognise ourselves in this Uncanny Mirror?