Joaquina Salgado
Avispish
INSTALATION
2023
What does it mean to exist in a world where every gesture can be turned into data?
The artwork explores the theme of power dynamics and how individuals experience them differently based on their personal histories and cultural backgrounds. It also questions the impact of digital surveillance and the erosion of data privacy on our sense of intimacy. Through anonymous storytelling, Avispish seeks to express these themes in an unusual way.
The project was born as a response to police violence against demonstrators in Switzerland during International Women's Day 2023. The artist, along with three other women who were subjected to unjustified aggression, engaged in an anonymous conversation about their experiences—this exchange became the foundation of the piece. During the protest, attendees were forced to pass through a police checkpoint where their data was collected using facial capture techniques. This act of surveillance, imposed on a day dedicated to demanding rights, became the core of the project.
As an artistic response, Avispish repurposes motion capture—the same technology used in the repression—to document and reanimate these experiences. The captured data is transferred onto a digital character, creating an installation of four screens, each displaying a different version of the entity. With a slightly gentle and slightly severe look, the looping faces evoke a poetic gathering of machinic affections, animated by human experience. A plurality of shifting forms, existing only because they have been something else before.
AI-driven processes play an important role in the motion capture pipeline, ensuring precise expression tracking. Conceptually, the use of AI mirrors the very systems employed in surveillance and biometric tracking—only here, they are reappropriated as tools for storytelling and the reanimation of personal narratives beyond institutional control.
“Avispish” Installation during the collective exhibition “Inherited” in Atelier Mondial, Basel. Switzerland
Graphic Design: Sylvan Lanz
Avispish (May 2023) - Cinema screen projection + Conversatory - Gesto digital en NAVE, Santiago de Chile, Chile.
Image By Vicente Palma
The first version of the installation "Avispish" took place during the International Festival of Animation, Video Games and Digital Art (BITBang) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with the support of British Council and Amplify DAI
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Sound Design by Ramiro Plano