Graduation project
Bee Machine
Seungbee Han
An interactive machine analyses users’ faces based on the designer’s own face and preferences, drawing attention to the biases in algorithms.
Bee Machine' challenges common beliefs about data technology. The machine prints and distributes Bee Han's information, which varies depending on the outcome of a process of analysis. Driven by five algorithms, the machine analyses users' faces based on facial similarities, personal preferences of the designer and the study of physiognomy. The designer created an algorithm using a dataset of information about own personal tastes and thoughts, which directs the machine’s behaviour. This process is similar to the way machines and technologies are currently created. We no longer know what happens when we press a button on a machine. The act of being analysed by a machine with a simple, yet, determined outcome questions the common faith in data provided by technology, which is ultimately flawed and subjective.