Biography
Max Dovey combines per- formance art and new media to rese- arch the impact of software and data on human beings. The work How To Be More Or Less Human is based on image recognition software. This software clas- sifies photos by algorithms. When you enter a selfie via your webcam, the pro- gram analyses for example your gender, race and age based on similarities with images from online image databases. In a live performance, Dovey researches how photos of himself can be indexed by software as for example ‘sexy’, ‘pragma- tic’ or ‘successful’. Clothing and posture play a major role in this. Because the software is based on commercial stock photography, it reacts on clicheÌs and visual stereotypes. Dovey raises the issue of this disturbing development in a playful manner.