chic-o-mat

Concept: Kate Burgener
Juerg Luedi
Michael Nussbaum
Date: 2007

“The other, that’s my own unconscious (my unconscious self).”
Julia Kristeva

“chic-o-mat” provides for a playful encounter with an individual’s own identity. Installation visitors can virtually modify their appearance, age and gender.

A visitor can use the installation’s camera to take a picture of himself/herself and then combine it with the image of another installation visitor or with one that’s already stored in chic-o-mat’s pool of images. The viewing experience is like looking into a mirror and encountering a face that’s rather familiar and yet, at the same time, somewhat strange.

Programs used in chic-o-mat are: Processing, ImageMagick, MPT, Java, C++, Perl, AutoHotkey, Samba and Linux.

Pilot project developed in conjunction with the “Gay Chic - von der Subkultur zum Mainstream” exhibition at the Museum of Design, Zurich, 2006; curator: Cynthia Gavranic.