Ruben van de Ven

In my previous artistic research I examined emerging technologies that digitise emotions in an attempt to answer the question: what does it mean to feel 12% surprised and 57% joyful? I tried to break down the technical procedures of emotion recognition algorithms, and described how humanistic concept are forced in a positivist framework – thereby countering the claimed objectivity of these systems.

For my residency at Q21 I would like to take this research one step further and examine the positivist‘s desire for, and believe in, objective classification of the human individual. I want to trace back these desires over the past 200 years as they seem grounded in the birth of photography, when subjective observation was externalised to a seemingly objective apparatus. By collecting interviews with practitioners I want to collect a body of field research – delving from the minds of programmers not a single belief, but a rich multiplicity of desires, concerns, disagreements and contradictions.

During one month in Vienna, I have been further pursuing my research on emotion recognition software, finally having the time to read up on a lot of texts (in the beautiful library that is just around the corner!). Besides that I got in contact with several local developers and researchers, with whom I had brief interviews on the topic. This brought me in contact with a community that generously showed me around and who, over and over, put me in contact with others: I didn’t a notice a thing from the dreaded “Austrian hospitality”. At the end I also got in contact with the people from RIAT – with whom I certainly share some interests as well.
Furthermore, I prepared my work for ‘Mood Swings’, which will be in frei_raum in April-May and finished my publication on the topic for the Institute of Network Cultures. Finally, I also had two short studio visits with students in which I showed them my work and research.
Of course, the MQ itself is a beautiful place – and the studios certainly live up to that. Also the connection with other residents was warm. All the artists-in-residence were invited by different institutions, which made it a rich group. Particularly the dumpster-dive-dinners organised by  Kadija & Chico were great.
<link http: networkcultures.org longform choose-how-you-feel-you-have-seven-options external-link-new-window externen link in neuem>networkcultures.org/longform/2017/01/25/choose-how-you-feel-you-have-seven-options/