Specular is a final installation project housed in a bespoke, self-contained structure. At its centre is a mirror — seemingly neutral, but embedded with a hidden camera and object identification system that silently observes and labels the person inside. The data captured is streamed in real time to a monitor placed outside the structure, where viewers witness the subject being categorised without their knowledge.

 

The installation is deliberately divided into an inside and outside, mirroring the dual nature of digital life.

 

 The solitary, private act of being online versus the public performance of self through social media. The person inside occupies a space of apparent solitude, unaware they are already being watched, while those outside take on the role of passive voyeurs. This division investigates how behaviour shifts when one becomes aware of being perceived, echoing the pervasive yet often invisible surveillance embedded in digital platforms.

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specular continues my investigation into the digital gaze, identity politics, and the power dynamics embedded in algorithmic systems. It marks a culmination of ideas explored throughout earlier works like serm0n, where the AI-generated character g0D first emerged as a visible, quasi-divine voice and spectacle. In specular, this presence evolves into deux — a more refined, disembodied alter ego who now speaks from within the system itself.

 

The title specular draws from the Latin speculum, meaning mirror, and refers not only to the literal mirror within the installation but also to the concept of specularisation: the transformation of a subject into an object of vision. It also gestures to the psychoanalytic “specular image,” where identity is mediated through reflection. Here, however, the reflection is algorithmic and detached...the mirror sees, but it also classifies.

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This work speaks to broader themes of being perceived — not only by people, but by algorithms. It asks how this persistent perception influences how we come to perceive ourselves. In a culture of constant digital scrutiny, specular investigates how individuals begin to demonstrate or curate themselves in response to being watched. A monologue will be delivered by deux, my now conceptual alter ego who interrogates the viewer’s presence, questioning their complicity, performance, and submission to technological gaze.

 

By transforming a mirror into a mechanism of both observation and judgement, specular reveals the psychological and behavioural shifts that emerge when we are not just seen  but computed.

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