Target Project is the brainchild of Benjamin Males, a dude who aims to “raise questions about our experience and relationship with surveillance technologies and CCTV.” The device(s) Males has created record time, date, weight, height, obesity, and skin color for analysis. Good or evil?
This design is split into two projects: RTS-2 and SOLA. The designer, Benjamin Males says, “The Racial Targeting System (RTS-2) is a fully portable real-time image-processing platform that has the ability to automatically find and follow faces and then analyse and store their race data.” While the SOLA Males says, “[is] able to remotely calculate Body Mass Index and publish the data via wired and wireless networks.”
RTS-2 stores the skin colour data, location, time and date. SOLA records time, location, weight, height and obesity level.
Bejamin Males goes on to say that “the purpose of this device is to raise questions about the possible role of surveillance technology in healthcare, and the potential uses (misuses?) of this data by others.”
If you live in England you know that CCTV cameras are everywhere. Or maybe you dont! Look for them. Favorite subject of street artist giants Shepard Fairey and England’s own Banksy; questions about “watching ourselves watch ourselves” have been raised since the cameras were constructed.
Many an excellent art project could be made with this kind of tool. And yet, perhaps such projects are taking the technology places it shouldn’t go.
Are we overanalyzing ourselves?
How much information is too much information?
Designer: Benjamin Males
