The AOS – Art is Open Source Lab will investigate the concepts of identity and light. Two classes from the Rome Liceo Aristofane and the Istituto agrario Garibaldi are at work with Oriana Persico and Salvatore Iaconesi, analysing how the concept of self is changing and evolving with new technology and social networks that base their very existence on the “need to appear.” Moreover, this is media that is based on the emission and transmission of light.

The students used smartphones, tablets and other digital devices to take selfies and photos of their classmates. They then catalogued the photos and employed facial recognition algorithms on a web interface to extrapolate the eyes, mouth and noses of students from the photos and create a database of facial traits. In the final work phase, the students combined these traits randomly to express the volubility and fragmented nature of our 21^st century identities.

The work will be exhibited at the Rome MAXXI during the Media Art Festival (April 27-29).