Prosopagnosia: A Conversation with Joan Fontcuberta

Speaker(s): Joan Fontcuberta

Joan Fontcuberta, photojournalist from Catalonia, will be joining us by videoconference to give a talk as part of the course "Visuality, Memory and Citizenship: Archive and Activism in Catalan Photography" with Josep Pla Visiting Professor Antonio Monegal.
 
Prosopagnosia (memory pathology remembering faces) is a project departing from a historical photo archive from a Spanish local newspaper active in the 30’s, devoted to public personalities of the time. This collection of faces is the input for a G.A.N. (Generative Adversatorial Network) algorithm designed by artist partner Pilar Rosado, which develops a machine learning process to generate new faces out of the archive portraits (although we could apply it to any kind of archive). The result is a new collection of photorealistic images of non-existing persons. The final pictures are astonishing but Fontcuberta focuses mainly on the wonderful sequence of failed attempts.
 
Activity as part of the course ILAC 283E / ARTHIST 283E. Open to the public.