Level of Confidence
Para información en Español, favor de descargar este documento en PDF.
"Level of Confidence" is an art project to commemorate the mass kidnapping of 43 students from the Ayotzinapa normalista school in Iguala, Guerrero, Mexico. It was released on March 26, 2015, exactly six months after the kidnapping took place. The project consists of a face-recognition camera that has been trained to tirelessly look for the faces of the disappeared students. As you stand in front of the camera, the system uses algorithms to find which student's facial features look most like yours and gives a "level of confidence" on how accurate the match is, in percent.
The biometric surveillance algorithms used, -Eigen, Fisher and LBPH-, are typically used by military and police forces to look for suspicious individuals whereas in this project they are used to search for victims instead. The piece will always fail to make a positive match, as we know that the students were likely murdered and burnt in a massacre where government, police forces and drug cartels were involved, but the commemorative side of the project is the relentless search for the students and the overlap of their image with the public's own facial features.
The project software is available for free download so that any university, cultural centre, gallery or museum can set-up the piece and exhibit it. To show the work the institution must download the project software and provide a computer, screen and webcam. The full instructions and specifications are in this PDF document.
The project also exists as an open source software, which can be modified by any programmer with knowledge of OpenFrameworks so that he or she can make their own version, with different content. An example may be someone who trains the algorithms with images from missing aboriginal women in Canada. To download the source code
please visit our GitHub.
On the launch of the "Level of Confidence" project, already the piece is planned to be exhibited at the MUAC Museum in Mexico City and at Universities across Mexico like Iberoamericana, UAM, Universidad de las Artes, Universidad Autónoma de Aguascalientes and others. Internationally the piece is being shown at Lozano-Hemmer's exhibition at Art Bärtschi Gallery in Geneva, by the FOFA Gallery at Concordia University in Montréal and by the Universidad Nacional de Tierra del Fuego in Argentina. We shall update this page as more exhibitors show the work.
The piece can be acquired for art collections, but all proceeds are directed to a fund to help the affected community, for example in scholarships for new students at the normalista school. The work is editioned with 12 copies and one AP, includes all the equipment, installation and a certificate of authenticity. It can be acquired through any of Lozano-Hemmer's galleries.
General info
Exhibitions
- Metadata: Rethinking Photography from the 21st Century, The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida, United States, 2022.
- Black Swan: Unpredictable Future, Open Media Art Festival, The Oil Tank Culture Park, Seoul, South Korea, 2020.
- School Photos and Their Afterlives, Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, New Hampshire, United States, 2020.
- Open Codes. We Are Data, Azkuna Zentroa Alhóndiga Bilbao, Bilbao, Spain, 2019 - 2020.
- Asuntos de Nuestro Espacio, Centro Cultural Rojas, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2019.
- Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Presencia Inestable, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey, Monterrey, México, 2019 - 2020.
- The Watchers, The 8th Floor, New York City, New York, United States, 2019.
- Level of Confidence, Documentary Edge Festival, Wellington, New Zealand, 2019.
- Level of Confidence, Documentary Edge Festival, Auckland, New Zealand, 2019.
- Level of Confidence, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C., United States, 2019.
- Faces, Es Baluard - Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Mallorca, Spain, 2019.
- La No Comunidad, CentroCentro, Madrid, Spain, 2018.
- Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Unstable Presence, Musée d'Art Contemporain de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada, 2018.
- Global Positioning System Not Working, Akademie der Künste der Welt, Cologne, Germany, 2018.
- Printemps Numérique X 5 à 9 au McCord, McCord Museum, Montréal, Québec, Canada, 2018.
- Reality Machines - An Art Exhibition on Post-Truth, CRASSH, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, 2018.
- Authenticate, Cypress College Art Gallery, Cypress, California, United States, 2018.
- Digital Dynamics 2018: Interaction, The Museum, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, 2018.
- Nivel de Confianza, XLIV Festival International Cervantino, Guanajuato, México, 2017.
- The Rise of Bio-Society, Riddoch Art Gallery, Mount Gambier, Australia, 2017.
- Nothing to Hide? Art, Surveillance, and Privacy, Real Art Ways, Hartford, Connecticut, United States, 2017.
- Looking at One Thing and Thinking of Something Else - Part Three: United We Stand, Carroll / Fletcher Gallery, London, United Kingdom, 2017.
- Nivel de Confianza, Post-Screen Festival, Lisbon, Portugal, 2016 - 2017.
- De Muerte Presente - Der Tod in der mexikanischen Gegenwartskunst, Kunstmuseum Heidenheim, Heidenheim, Germany, 2016 - 2017.
- Robots Building Robots, Hedreen Gallery, Seattle, Washington, United States, 2016.
- Lo que nos Falta. Imágenes desde la Ausencia, Museo de la Ciudad de Querétaro, Galería Libertad, Querétaro, México, 2016.
- VI Bienal de Arte Contemporáneo, Fundación Once, Madrid, Spain, 2016.
- Eco Expanded City / Synthetic Nature, WRO Art Center, Wrocław, Poland, 2016.
- GIEI Ayotzinapa, Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana, Mexico City, México, 2016.
- Remote Signals, ARSi maja, Tallinn, Estonia, 2016.
- FAVCA-XIII Festival de las Artes Visuales de Campeche, TBA, Ciudad del Carmen, México, 2016.
- Art-Facto-Today, Eastern Bloc, Montréal, Québec, Canada, 2016.
- I'll Be Your Mirror: Interactive Reflections, Telfair Museums, Savannah, Georgia, United States, 2016.
- Nivel de Confianza, Gund Gallery, Gambier, Ohio, United States, 2016.
- Nivel de Confianza, Pinta Miami, Aluna Art Foundation, Miami, Florida, United States, 2015.
- The Age of Catastrophe, Actual Contemporary, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, 2015.
- Nivel de Confianza, La Cigarra, Chiapas, México, 2015.
- Performing Likeness, Fort Worth Contemporary Arts, Fort Worth, Texas, United States, 2015.
- ISMAR, City Museum, Fukuoka, Japan, 2015.
- Carteles por Ayotzinapa: Primer Bienal Internacional de Carteles Oaxaca, OPC - Oficina de Proyectos Culturales, Puerto Vallarta, México, 2015.
- Nivel de Confianza, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Facultades de Ingeniería, Medicina y Filosofía y Letras, Puebla, México, 2015.
- El Estado de las Cosas, FotoMuseo Cuatro Caminos, Mexico City, México, 2015 - 2016.
- ANT, Galería Punto, Valencia, Spain, 2015.
- Meta, Narrativas Digitales, Galería Andrea Pozzo - Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City, México, 2015.
- Level of Confidence, Baltan Laboratories, Eindhoven, Netherlands, 2015.
- Memory Burn, bitforms gallery, New York City, New York, United States, 2015.
- Nivel de Confianza, Ciudad Juárez, México, 2015.
- Art and Conflict Symposium, Wolfson College, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, 2015.
- Eurocaravana 43, Juicebrothers No2, Vienna, Austria, 2015.
- Nivel de Confianza, The Neon Rex Project, Mexico City, México, 2015.
- Nivel de Confianza, Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, México, 2015.
- Nivel de Confianza, Centro Nacional de las Artes CENART- Galería de Arte Electrónico Manuel Felguérez, Mexico City, México, 2015.
- Level of Confidence, FOFA Gallery, Montréal, Québec, Canada, 2015.
- Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Polynomials, Art Bärtschi & Cie, Genève, Switzerland, 2015.
Credits
- Stephan Schulz - programming and hardware
- Karine Charbonneau, Carolina Murillo-Morales, Guillaume Tremblay - Antimodular production
- Kyle McDonald - facetracker software
Bibliography
- "Rafael Lozano-Hemmer stellt im HeK in Basel aus", Badische Zeitung, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, June 7th 2016 (deutsch). Text of 1 page. (Newspaper)
- "Rafael Lozano-Hemmer - Level of Confidence", ISMAR 2015, Fukuoka, Japan, September 30th 2015 (english). Text of 4 pages. (Book)
- "Memory Burn at bitforms gallery", Anti-Utopias, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, June 13th 2015 (english). Text of 7 pages. (Website)
- "Level of Confidence by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer", Baltan Laboratories, Eindhoven, Netherlands, July 8th 2015 (english). Text of 2 pages. (Website)
- "Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Preabsence", art-in.de, Switzerland, June 2nd 2016 (deutsch). Text of 2 pages. (Website)
- "Ohne Besucher keine Ausstellung: Rafael Lozano-Hemmer nimmt das wörtlich", Tages Woche, Basel, Switzerland, June 9th 2016 (deutsch). Text of 3 pages. (Newspaper)
- "Rafael Lozano-Hemmer (MX/CA), Level of Confidence", WRO Art Center, Wrocław, Poland, 2016 (polskie). Text of 2 pages. (Website)
- "Visionarios: Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, creador de arte vivo", The Creators Project, New York City, New York, United States, December 9th 2015 (español). Text of 4 pages. (Website)
- "Rafael Lozano-Hemmer 'Preabsence' at House of Electronic Arts, Basel", Mousse Magazine, Milan, Italy, June 23rd 2016 (english). Text of 7 pages. (Magazine)
- "Nivel de Confianza, una obra de Rafael Lozano-Hemmer en el Cenart (@cenartmx)", MX-DF, Mexico City, México, April 2015 (español). Text of 1 page. (Website)
- "Nivel de Confianza", La Tempestad, Monterrey, México, April 10th 2015. Text of 1 page. (Magazine)
- "Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Pseudomatismos", Dad Calls Me Weirdo, January 21st 2016 (english). Text of 3 pages. (Website)
- "Nivel de confianza, de Rafael Lozano-Hemmer", Revista Código, Mexico City, México, April 9th 2015 (español). Text of 4 pages. (Magazine)
- "Das Haus für elektronische Künste in Münchenstein zeigt Werke von Rafael Lozano-Hemmer", Badische Zeitung, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, June 10th 2016 (deutsch). Text of 2 pages. (Newspaper)
- "Exhibition: Level of confidence - Rafael Lozano-Hemmer", Concordia University, Montréal, Québec, Canada, March 27th 2015 (english and français). Text of 3 pages. (Website)
- Austen, Kat, "Level of Confidence: Open-source art memorial to the missing", New Scientist, London, United Kingdom, August 5th 2015 (english). Text of 2 pages. (Magazine)
- Ávila, Sonia, "Buscan a los 43 vía electrónica", Excelsior, Mexico City, México, April 27th 2015 (español). Text of 3 pages. (Newspaper)
- Azael Hernández, Diego , "Pseudomatismos, arte y tecnología en el MUAC", La Liebre de Fuego, México, November 27th 2015 (español). Text of 2 pages. (Website)
- Castres, Mathilde, "Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: une revolution techno-poetique", Inferno, Avignon, France, February 3rd 2016 (français). Text of 3 pages. (Magazine)
- Chardon, Elisabeth, "A Bâle, des ouvres qui pulsent au rythme de votre coeur", Le Temps, Genève, Switzerland, August 8th 2016 (français). Text of 2 pages. (Newspaper)
- Cochrane, Steven Leyden, "It's the end of the world as we know it...", Winnipeg Free Press, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, December 3rd 2015 (english). Text of 2 pages. (Newspaper)
- Daunt, Julie, "10 Mind-bending exhibitions you need to attend in 2015", The Culture Trip, Denmark, August 2015 (english). Text of 5 pages. (Website)
- Diaz Torrecilla, Ginella, "Arte y robótica para seguir buscando a los 43 estudiantes desaparecidos en México", Radio Canada International, Montréal, Québec, Canada, July 24th 2015 (español). Text of 3 pages. (Website)
- Díaz, Julia, "Nivel de Confianza de Rafael Lozano-Hemmer", La Ciudad de Frente, Mexico City, México, April 15th 2015 (español). Text of 1 page. (Newspaper)
- DJ Pangburn, "Enter mind-bending simulated realities at a new exhibition", The Creators Project, New York City, New York, United States, June 23rd 2015 (english). Text of 6 pages. (Website)
- Egea, Eduardo, "Transiciones afectivas", Crónica, Mexico City, México, 2016 (español). Text of 1 page. (Newspaper)
- El Universal, "Pieza inspirada en los 43 normalistas, se exhibe en Japón", Hora Cero, Reynosa, México, September 29th 2015 (español). Text of 2 pages. (Newspaper)
- Eler, Alicia, "Inhabiting other people's recorded memories", Hyperallergic, New York City, New York, United States, July 29th 2015 (english). Text of 5 pages. (Website)
- Espinoza, Antonio, "Felipe Ehrenberg: arte post-Ayotzinapa", Confabulario - El Universal, Mexico City, México, September 26th 2015 (español). Text of 2 pages. (Magazine)
- Garret, Marc, "Choose your muse interview: Lynn Hershman Leeson", Furtherfield, London, United Kingdom, July 13th 2015 (english). Text of 6 pages. (Website)
- Graves, Jen, "The 79 moments in the art that helped us survive 2016", The Stranger, Seattle, Washington, United States, December 21st 2016 (english). Text of 5 pages. (Magazine)
- Graves, Jen, "'They were taken alive, we want them back alive!' (Artists for empathy, part 2)", The Stranger, Seattle, Washington, United States, October 19th 2016 (english). Text of 3 pages. (Newspaper)
- Harding, Oliver, "Surveying the new media scene with Rafael Lozano-Hemmer", Centre Phi, Montréal, Québec, Canada, March 29th 2017 (english). Text of 8 pages. (Website)
- Kelly, Jeanette, "Artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer remembers Mexican massacre victims", CBC News Montreal, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, March 27th 2015 (english). Text of 2 pages. (Website)
- Lin, Jin, "Level of Confidence", Tech News, Taipei, China, June 14th 2015 (chinese). Text of 4 pages. (Website)
- Lorena Marrón, Juliana Jiménez Jaramillo, "In memoriam", Slate, New York City, New York, United States, September 26th 2015 (english). Text of 7 pages. (Website)
- Martínez, Teresa, "Creaciones que cuestionan", El Norte, Monterrey, México, September 12th 2015 (español). Text of 4 pages. (Newspaper)
- Martínez, Teresa, "Busca su obra empatía con Ayotzinapa", El Norte, Monterrey, México, April 11th 2015 (español). Text of 1 page. (Newspaper)
- Mayer, Mónica, "La ausencia", De Archivos Y Redes, Mexico City, México, June 3rd 2016 (español). Text of 1 page. (Website)
- Mendoza, Christian, "Entrevista a Lozano-Hemmer", La Tempestad, Monterrey, México, April 16th 2015 (español). Text of 2 pages. (Magazine)
- Moncada, Futuro, "Pseudomatismos de Rafael Lozano-Hemmer. Un texto de futuro Moncada", Circulo A, México, January 8th 2016 (español). Text of 22 pages. (Website)
- Önol, Isin, "Rafael Lozano-Hemmer ve Kolektif Bellek", Artful Living, Istanbul, Turkey, July 28th 2016 (türkçe). Text of 11 pages. (Website)
- Peer, Jeff, "Revisiting a subversive Mexican art collective and the country's forgotten crimes", Hyperallergic, New York City, New York, United States, February 12th 2016 (english). Text of 7 pages. (Website)
- Ray, Melissa, "Memory Burn", Postmatter, London, United Kingdom, August 10th 2015 (english). Text of 12 pages. (Website)
- Retana, Giselle, "Lozano-Hemmer en el MUAC, Pseudomatismos y el museo del futuro", Apolorama, Mexico City, México, November 10th 2015 (español). Text of 3 pages. (Website)
- Rodríguez, Eugenia, "Arte por Ayotzinapa", Reporte Indigo, San Pedro Garza García, México, September 24th 2015 (español). Text of 2 pages. (Website)
- Roffiel, Othiana, "Calculating uncertainty - A conversation with Rafael Lozano-Hemmer", Art Pulse, United States, 2016 (english). Text of 8 pages. (Magazine)
- Rosales Argonza, Mariza, "De l'ordre dans le chaos de la narco-violence; art, media et stratégies de sens", Archée, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Québec, Canada, April 2016 (français). Text of 9 pages. (Website)
- Rosas, Alejandro, "'Nivel de Confianza', de Rafael Lozano-Hemmer", ArteDigitaLamm, Mexico City, México, April 8th 2015 (español). Text of 1 page. (Website)
- Rudin, David, "Memory Burn wants you to imagine digital death. That's real enough.", Kill Screen, July 15th 2015 (english). Text of 5 pages. (Website)
- Rylan, Ben and Jane Morris, "Art Basel", The Monocle Art Review, London, United Kingdom, June 20th 2016 (english). Text of 1 page. (Magazine)
- Schwietert Collazo, Julie, "An artwork forces us to face Mexico's disappeared students", Hyperallergic, New York City, New York, United States, August 7th 2015 (english). Text of 4 pages. (Website)
- Sierra, Sonia, "'Ahora son las obras las que miran al publico': Rafael Lozano-Hemmer", Confabulario - El Universal, Mexico City, México, January 2nd 2016 (español). Text of 12 pages. (Newspaper)
- Torres, Reuben, "Artist searches for the disappeared with facial scanning", The Creators Project, New York City, New York, United States, July 16th 2015 (english). Text of 3 pages. (Website)
- Ventura, Abida, "Exhiben en Japón pieza inspirada en los 43 normalistas", El Universal, Mexico City, México, September 29th 2015 (español). Text of 1 page. (Newspaper)