Self-Portraits 0.3 and the Avatars

‘Zizi - Queering the Dataset’ aims to tackle the lack of representation and diversity in the training datasets often used by facial recognition systems. The video was made by disrupting these systems** and re-training them with the addition of drag and gender fluid faces found online. This causes the weights inside the neural network to shift away from the normative identities it was originally trained on and into a space of queerness. ‘Zizi - Queering The Dataset’ lets us peek inside the machine learning system and visualise what the neural network has (and hasn’t) learnt. The work is a celebration of difference and ambiguity, which invites us to reflect on bias in our data driven society. ● The Zizi Project (2019 - ongoing) is a collection of works by Jake Elwes exploring the intersection of Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) and drag performance. Drag challenges gender and explores otherness, while A.I. is often mystified as a concept and tool, and is complicit in reproducing social bias. Zizi combines these themes through a deepfake, synthesised drag identity created using machine learning. The project explores what AI can teach us about drag, and what drag can teach us about A.I. **A Style-Based Generator Architecture for Generative Adversarial Networks (2019). Jake Elwes looks for poetry and narrative in the success and failures of these systems, while also investigating and questioning the code and ethics behind them. His work has been shown in & collected by museums and galleries internationally, recently in Germany, UK, Switzerland, Ars Electronica, Venice, Shanghai, Beijing, Melbourne, Delhi & featuring on BBC & ZDF

Arca repeatedly implores the listener to "speak for your self-states," amidst an eruption of artillery fire and thundering kicks. "I'm asking for recognition that we have multiple selves without denying that there's a singular unit," she says, “I want to be seen as an ecosystem of minor self-states without being stripped of the dignity of being a whole." For Arca, it's about bringing together all of these different facets of (the) self and her work without having to feel beholden to any given one. For the video of Nonbinary, Arca collaborated with visual artist Frederik Heyman. Video credits: Directed by Frederik Heyman Concept and scenario by Frederik Heyman and Arca Symbolic gestation by Alejandra Ghersi

A boundary-breaking musician, producer, visual artist, and more, origins;;y from Venezuela, Alejandra Ghersi's work as Arca defines the cutting edge of those fields. Her fluency in different media echoes how effortlessly her music borrowed from various genres while defying easy classification: the rumbling, rattling percussion that became a hallmark of her style had roots in hip-hop, noise, IDM, and Venezuelan party music. Ghersi's approach was distinctive enough to be immediately recognizable even when she produced music by artists as prominent as Kanye West, Björk, and Frank Ocean. Arca's own music was even more adventurous, whether she subverted the sounds of hip-hop in unapologetically queer ways on her early EPs or skillfully balanced her experimental and emotional sides on her first full-length, 2014's Xen. Ghersi reinvented herself with each album, emphasizing the density and volatility of her music on 2015's Mutant and breaking it wide open with the outpourings of 2017's Arca, her first work to feature her voice. With the five-album Kick project that spanned 2020 and 2021, she reassembled pop into new, complex yet intuitive forms.

Grave markers of tetrapod

From the artist: Revived masculinity, Standing on a Femininity grave, The masculinity awakens again. Grave markers of tetrapod, A sandstorm blows in anywhere kidnapping me. (Yota Kuki) bismuth is a Crypto Artist base in Tokyo, Japan

An untouchable alien deity hovers above their throne. This work is a collaboration between Laurel Charleston and Shxpir Huang. Multi-media art by Shxpir Makeup art and modeling by Laurel

Laurel Charleston, based in NY, is a multidisciplinary artist, using makeup to transform the face into a work of art. Laurel takes inspiration from fine art and nature to create looks that are not merely accessory, but rather an extension of a larger artistic vision. Laurel’s work has been featured on covers of Harper’s Bazaar, Numéro, and Mixte, and featured in the New York Times, PAPER, Tush, and Dazed Beauty. Major client work includes Steve Madden, L’Oreal, POLO Ralph Lauren and Farfetch. Laurel graduated from the Pennsylvania State University, with a degree in music performance and orchestral conducting.

SHXPIR is an Artist and photographer based in New York who has worked with leading luxury houses across the world’s fashion capitals. While his roots are in fine art, he now prefers the tongue-in-cheek FAKE ART: he believes art should be accessible, not the exclusive preserve of the rich and elite.

NFT Creator, Illustrator, Designer from Philadelphia USA

Could the image of the transgendered body, as a symbolic and mythic body, be a living artefact that holds open a culture’s potential for the development of hermaphroditic consciousness, a consciousness that reaches far beyond gender and pierces the veil of opposition in all realms? — Susan McKenzie

INCARNATION I ☥ is a CG 3D Animation Depicts Artist's Nonbinary Transhuman Digital Self - Solomon Aphroditus.

Solomon Aphroditus is an artist, whose work is strongly based on theory and self-reflection. Their self-expression is performative. Lately, they have been creating digital art and taking interest in this medium as a legitimate form of fine arts in the local (Georgia, Caucasus) context. They are researching digital identity. Through the digital incarnation of the androgynous archetype, the artist tries to create the universal identity of an augmented being. Solomon Aphroditus is a transhuman myth. The artist’s digital body is a living artefact that expresses striving for non-binary consciousness.

The Magician archetype can be described to be somewhat aloof when it comes to forming personal connections. Their deep connections with the universe make them difficult to understand. Magicians tend to have a strong belief in their dreams, their abilities, and themselves in general.

Sloagan: Some want it to happen, some wish it to happen, I make it happen

Deepest Desire: To attain knowledge of the world

Goal: Seeing dreams and visions to fruition

Fear: Not foreseeing negative consequences

Strategy: Have a vision and see it through

Weakness: Becoming manipulative of others

Talents: Discovering win-win situations and making deals

Other names: The Visionary, The Inventor

Midwest Misfit is an anonymous multidisciplinary artist. He is a 3D manifestation from his creator.

@Usernam” leads viewers to question what is truly the most authentic experience of one’sself when presented through the lens of digital media. Digital identity forks into two paths, to fully embrace one’s complete self or conceal it all away. Both options arguably result in previously unseen levels of authentic representation of an individual. The digital 3D sculpture alongside the physical sculpture intends to further demonstrate this idea of forked identities. There is a specific moment in which the physical piece is no longer an exact representation of the digital piece, creating a parallel narrative to the alternate identities represented in the sculptures. The digital piece has been developed exclusively within SamJ’S Amsterdam studio, while the physical piece has been hand created by them across the ocean in New York. Once more providing even more emphasis on the division of the twin sculptures. The physical representing the flaws of real people that act as a catalyst of growth and development, and the digital representing the highly curated perfection that can be performed while anonymous. Is anonymity a freeing ego death, leaving nothing but your actions to speak for who you are, or is it rather a complete erasure of expression and true intention? Anonymous identities can prove to be one dimensional flattening of one’s identity, unintentionally boxing an entire human existence into a single image or username. Yet, many claim it is the last chance and an equal playing field and remove the global inequalities left after eons of exploitation. The journey to discover what is left of an individual’s existence when society’s endless pressures are removed is vast and confusing. Removing the comfort of existing within the boundaries of normalcy is extremely jarring. How does anyone ever truly represent their own unadulterated self in this way? If everyone is reinvented beyond expectations, would we all be free?

My artistic interests and design aesthetic are heavily founded and influenced by my queer identity. Assuming I already stand out in public as a queer person, I am not afraid to go further and be more unique than most in my design. I like to think my creative approach to art is unapologetic and borderline absurd. One could easily consider my work as borderline campy. Someone once told me my work looked as if it was from kindergarten, frankly I think that's chic. I channel my creativity through new tech, fashion, and any medium I feel inspired to explore. My creative process is one of borderless curiosity and intuition.

It is not without the hard efforts of several generations before us that fought on the streets, in the courts and within the confinements of the system that we would be celebrating who we are today. Australian Artist, AR/VR Auteur, Animator & Technologist fusing hand drawn Illustrations with 3D Immersive AR/VR Media, creating elaborate stylised story-driven Creations made explorable through Virtual & Augmented Reality. His approaches to experiential Art & Storytelling have showcased internationally with organisations & events across South Korea, Japan and the US, including Siggraph Asia, Adobe MAX, Saatchi Art, South by South West, GDC and Silicon Valley's VR Association.