NAZAR (RCA THESIS) · RESEARCH + PRODUCT DESIGN · 2023
Protection from the Evil Eye of Surveillance
An interactive installation leveraging computer vision and DIY counter-surveillance, using the evil eye as a symbolic & technical countermeasure. The aim was to introduce people to the basic rules to fool facial recognition algorithms.
ONE MINUTE OVERVIEW
RESEARCH QUESTION
attention & visibility in networked technology?"
Nazar, originally a word from ancient Arabic, means ‘look, sight, surveillance, visual attention’. Nazar refers to a protective practice against the Evil Eye, a destructive and unpredictable curse cast by the envious gaze, intentionally or unintentionally.
The project critically examines the cultural concept of the Nazar across the world and how it parallels the increasing visibility and surveillance of our lives online and offline, creating connections between the protective practices of Nazar and ways to protect our images from being recognised.
OUTCOME
Interactive Installation.
THE EVIL EYE IS NOT A REAL EYE BUT A METAPHYSICAL EYE.
NEITHER DOES CV "SEE" THE WAY EYES DO.
Evil Eye practices are designed to misdirect the malignant gaze. When you 'Dazzle' yourself, you're hyper-visible to other humans, but you're invisible to computer vision. It repels a specific kind of gaze while allowing you to be visible- just like evil eye amulets.
Dazzle prevents face detection, the first step to face recognition.
Participants designed their own tangible camouflage via the stickers to fool the algorithm with real time feedback.
OVERVIEW
Evil Eye practices are designed to misdirect the malignant gaze.
Nazar, originally a word from ancient Arabic, means ‘look, sight, surveillance, visual attention’. Nazar refers to a protective practice against the Evil Eye, a destructive and unpredictable curse cast by the envious gaze intentionally or unintentionally.
DESIGN DEVELOPMENT
Neo-Amulets, or "protective charms".
As part of my install prep, I designed stickers inspired by amulet motifs, ballroom masks, Indian bindis, and butterfly eyespots (that fool the predator’s gaze), drawing comparisons between misdirecting the evil eye, the predatory eye, and the surveilling eye.
The stickers act as neo-amulets or ‘protective charms’- a way of being looked at without being exposed to the malignant gaze. I also came up with catch-phrases for How to Dazzle rules based on Adam Harvey’s reports and my own testing.
To wrangle attention from the audience, I designed my install to include a giant interactive poster in the shape of a nazar bead, and a live feed ‘mirror’ which attracts people and then surprises them with the detection- which is when I would jump in to explain the project to interested visitors.
RESEARCH
Connecting the dots with computer vision, face recognition and Dazzle.
My research interest was piqued initially due to linguistic commonalities in Evil Eye beliefs across the world. Following the research, my objective was to create a connection between Nazar-repelling practices and Perturbation that attacks the image recognition capabilities of AI, before I connected the dots with computer vision, face recognition and Dazzle.
My piece titled ‘Nazar; or meeting the Predatory Gaze” was the outcome of my early research into Nazar and the similarities I discovered with false eyes in animals. It has been published in the RCA magazine The Pluralist issue ‘Geometric Gardens’.
KEY
Connecting the dots with computer vision, face recognition and Dazzle.
My piece titled ‘Nazar; or meeting the Predatory Gaze” was the outcome of my early research into Nazar and the similarities I discovered with false eyes in animals. It has been
published in the RCA magazine The Pluralist issue ‘Geometric
Gardens’.
REFLECTIONS
3 Why's
THIS MEDIUM: This project was a blend of physical and digital elements, tangible material and intangible culture, playfulness (in its outcomes) and seriousness (in research), with audience interaction and feedback loops.
THIS PROJECT: The concern around data privacy, biometric and facial recognition, and surveillance capitalism is only increasing by the day. How to tell a story about protecting yourself from surveillance, while bringing in the familiar, widely used protective practise of using evil eye amulets? My aim was to examine the similarities between today’s hypervisibility, surveillance, the evil eye belief found primarily in non-Western cultures, and their relationship to the gaze.
ETHICS STATEMENT
Consent is sexy.
All interviewees, testers and participants were informed prior and I got explicit consent to use their images for my documentation before recording or photographing.
To the best of my knowledge, I ensured my outcomes are well researched and do not infringe on, mock or target the beliefs of any religious or ethnic group.
DESIGNED & BUILT BY