Digital Panicoutside the circle

Choreographic Camouflage

2021 By Liam Young
A still from a video of two dancers. One of the dancers is bent forward in
a 90 degree ange, the second dancer is on his back, with his legs in the
air. Together they form a geometric image.
Liam Young in collaboration with Jacob Jonas, video still from Choreographic Camouflage, 2021. Courtesy of the artist.

Developed in collaboration with „Jacob Jonas The Company“, Liam Young’s Choreographic Camouflage explores a human solution to AI scrutiny. Young and Jonas choreographed a dance performance in response to the introduction of ‘gait recognition’ software implemented by the Chinese government to quash civil unrest in Hong Kong in 2018. Gait recognition software claims to be able to identify people by the way they move, so Young and Jonas offer bodily movements that are able to obfuscate what Young describes as ‘skeleton detection algorithms.’

The dancers’ work of eluding the AI surveillance apparatus mirrors our own cat-and-mouse relationship with technology. Each new monitoring tool prompts new civilian efforts for privacy. Choreographic Camouflage embodies the artist’s desire to escape the robotic gaze through a series of human movements designed to be disguised. As AI surveillance becomes more commonplace in urban settings, how will we behave in public?

Teaser for Choreographic Camouflage, 2021 by Liam Young in collaboration with Jacob Jonas.