Alter ego

Using a computer to create a semi-autonomous replica of the person sitting in front of it, Alter Ego invites its audience to question the various facets of their own identity. In this screen-based installation individual audience members interact with what appears to be their own mirror image but which is, in fact, an avatar onto which the face of the user is mapped in real time. The Alter Ego interface is designed to be automatic and, as far as possible, invisible. The installation does not require conscious intervention from the user (such as button pushing/touch screen etc). Alter Ego has a secondary audience comprised of those people who have already used the work, or who are waiting to use it, and who are discussing their 'performance'. For the user, Alter Ego introduces a sense of rupture between the observed self and the experienced self. At the same time, it points up the inseparability of human and machine; of conscious actions and affective responses. Alter Ego plays with our expectations, mapping visual and affective information along unexpected pathways in order to draw attention to the subtle relationship between technological development and the transformation of human self-image and identification