In the first iteration of the dataDouble project (2018 — 2021), a group of 15 participants used the browser extension for 14 days each. This was followed by an interview with me, during which we talked both about their experience using the extension, as well as more broadly about notions of dataveillance, identity, and tracking. The digital portraits and interview excerpts can be found in the 2021 dataDouble publication, available for purchase from Vox Populi in Philadelphia, PA.
The digital portraits were then also printed via risograph; each portrait generated a print version measuring 11” x 17”. The digital images were translated into CMYK color, and printed in ink approximating these tones as closely as possible. Bringing a digitally generated portrait back into the physical world carries with it inherent loss and changes in color and quality, mirroring the impossibility of fully translating human identity between the physical and the digital.
The print library is an ongoing project, and anyone who uses the extension can add their portrait to the collection. To contribute your dataDouble portrait, email me at roopa.vasudevan@gmail.com; all participants sign a consent form ensuring that their names are not revealed without their knowledge, and which allows me to exhibit the portraits in gallery and museum contexts. I also send a copy of your risograph portrait to you for your own use or display!
Photo documentation of the print library from the exhibition Roopa Vasudevan: Machine Readable, which was on view at Vox Populi in Philadelphia, PA, in June & July 2021. Photos by Raúl Romero & Roopa Vasudevan.
