Point and Shoot | 2015
In 1882, the French scientist Étienne-Jules Marey invented the first portable motion picture camera, which he called the Fusil Photographique, or photographic rifle. Its lightweight, rifle shaped body enabled him to track the movement of birds in flight – the first camera pan – and was capable of exposing 12 images in rapid succession onto a circular gelatin plate.
Since then, there have been numerous camera gun adaptations. The Mark III Hythe Machine Gun Camera, which was modeled after the Lewis automatic machine gun, was used in World War I by the British Royal Flying Corps to measure the accuracy of its aerial gunners during combat simulations. In World War II, trigger activated cameras were installed on aircrafts to record enemy kills. More recently, an array of gun shaped digital cameras has emerged that take advantage of the small form factor of electronic image sensors.
Point and Shoot adds to the discourse of camera guns by introducing a facial detection safety feature, which disables the gun’s image making ability when pointed at a human face.
The algorithm conducting facial detection is known as the Viola-Jones object detection framework, a process through which light and dark regions of an image are compared to a set of classifiers, or filters, which has been trained to identify generalized patterns of light and dark regions commonly found in human faces.
By intervening between the human operator’s intention to pull the camera gun’s trigger and the device’s functionality, Point and Shoot offers a conceptual prototype for the future of firearm safety, where imperfect human judgment/instinct is further mediated by imperfect algorithmic discretion.
Exhibits:
Docu{rithm}, Power Plant Gallery, Durham, NC, 2015
Docu{rithm}, Keohane-Kenan Gallery, Durham, NC, 2015
Copyright © 2015 Aaron Kutnick. All rights reserved.