STRP x Liam Young - Choreographic Camouflage

About the project

Choreographic Camouflage reflects on the surveillance and tracking systems as deployed against protesters in Hong Kong, where Chinese authorities have developed a new technology that tracks individuals by mapping their unique gait or body movements. This surveillance system is gaining the upper hand not only in Asia but also worldwide, as the need to wear mouthguards against the spread of the covid-19 virus has greatly limited the effectiveness of facial detection systems. The technology scans huge databases of collected images and cctv footage, looking for predefined human forms and proportions that suggest two legs, a torso, two arms and a head. Working with dancers from The Jacob Jonas Company, Liam Young has developed a series of new dance movements that distort the body's proportions, symmetry and shape to make them invisible to the body detection software that is now being rolled out by cities around the world.

Credits

Director: Liam Young Choreographer: Jacob Jonas Technical Lead: Shuruq Tramontini Director of Photograhy: Horacio Martinez and Pannyhire Commissioner: STRP The Jacob Jonas Company Managing Director: Jill Wilson Executive Producer: Tonia Barber Assistant Choreographer: Anibal Sandoval Featuring The Jacob Jonas Company Performing Artists: Joy Brown, James Blackston, Miguel Lopez Jorge, Emma Rosenzweig-Bock, Mike Tyus, Jill Wilson