OBJECT-SELFIE-MACHINE
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4d1a06dd24b2b4412c3c36a322e95dcd8bffa72b646a0fdf5569e5218a458b44/object.selfie.machine.01.jpg)
What is more important? The technological device, the person, or the selfie? The artwork raises this question when facing the audience to take a selfie as part of an artistic installation -it is not just any digital self-portrait-. It is the creation of a new visual context – born from the research archives of the different departments of the EPN (Escuela Politécnica Nacional del Ecuador) – in an analog-digital-interactive piece.
Through the use of a deep convolutional network and the training of the algorithm with photographs of thousands of people, the program recognizes the person and isolates them from its background; creating a new picture, a real-time techno collage with the ability to be shared instantly through Instagram @epnselfie
The idea stems from a personal approach to the selfie as an object of self-significance, which goes beyond interactivity with human beings or what they do or understand about it.
Technical description:
The technical challenge of this project was to identify and classify an image in real-time (semantic segmentation). The model used is based on the methodology of L. Chen, G Papandreou (2016). This model builds a maximum-hope (EM) estimator from a semi-supervised learning process. It uses a deep convolutional network and training data set with hand-labeled images.
*This art piece was commissioned for the “Reprogramar la(s) Materia(s), an Art Show part of the celebrations for the 150 years of the creation of the EPN, October 2019.“Object-selfie-machine” would not have been possible without the support, collaboration, and hard work of the following people:
Work team:
Scientific advisor
David Villacis, Doctoral Student in Applied Mathematics
Laboratories that provided the images:
CIERHI
Acoustics Laboratory – Pamela Rivera
Meb Demex – Alicia del Carmen Guevara
Paleontology – José Luis Román
With special thanks to:
Ana María Garzón Mantilla – Curator
Juan Carlos de los Reyes
David Villacis
Carla Manciati
María Fernanda Orquera
Allyson Villamar
Sergio Sarango
https://artecontemporaneoecuador.com/darte-cap-5-reprogramar-la-materia/
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f4f60f7d361cc041e4778b21b2f59464a9d2ce167f51a2d21d512e302f85a1ca/object.selfie.machine.1.gif)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/42bce04c6b7f2408ee47aae283673d64373e6c7ff407ad4eeefb157be43f1438/object.selfie.machine.2.gif)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/42bce04c6b7f2408ee47aae283673d64373e6c7ff407ad4eeefb157be43f1438/object.selfie.machine.2.gif)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f4f60f7d361cc041e4778b21b2f59464a9d2ce167f51a2d21d512e302f85a1ca/object.selfie.machine.1.gif)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f4f60f7d361cc041e4778b21b2f59464a9d2ce167f51a2d21d512e302f85a1ca/object.selfie.machine.1.gif)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/42bce04c6b7f2408ee47aae283673d64373e6c7ff407ad4eeefb157be43f1438/object.selfie.machine.2.gif)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2879124d9526b23608a5f306a9460d63177beeabc3ca4b61ded1f57afa4ef0eb/object.selfie.machine.02.jpeg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5817b5f38e7dbc5d8055881314bec9ad00cf8a6afb6be14726e5606d36379fb7/object.selfie.machine.03.jpeg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/18d57117980a3f5c1cd9c309e1adbcafd5091b361f85249faf9647e9002a4da3/object.selfie.machine.04.jpeg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b9366f9e4c200fdc86b0673dd8eabde79f2f4700d0d7000de401b38072669238/object.selfie.machine.06.jpeg)