The fAIces project

Facial recognition technologies are everywhere, in our homes, on our streets, in public and private spaces. Our faces are scanned, stored, and classified by phones, cameras, and algorithms, for safety, profit, and control — shaping how we are seen, known, and governed.

These technologies promise security and convenience, but they also surveil, judge, and misfire. They see too much — or not enough.

At fAIces, we ask: What matters in these technologies, and why?
We bring together voices often siloed: scientists, tech workers, activists, Black communities, and artists. All differently entangled in the politics of the face in contemporary digital societies.

At the heart of fAIces is a new concept: etho-assemblages — a way to understand ethics, subjectivities, and power as entangled, embodied, and constantly negotiated. To critically address facial recognition technologies is to move beyond questions of right and wrong, toward understanding what is at stake — and for whom.

We ask: How do facial recognition technologies shape our sense of self, citizenship, and public life? Who benefits and who is harmed? And how can communities imagine alternatives — and envision other futures?

fAIces pushes the boundaries of research by blending theory and activism, creating new ways for diverse publics to engage — and for critical theory and creative practice to speak together.