Italian version
.hacktivism
07.10.03 CopVision: I like to watch.
Is it possible to imagine a computer watching TV? TheI like to watch/CopVision project is based on a program which does just this and, as every TV addict, has a favorite serial: COPS. Fox's famous 'reality' format, which has enraptured America since the late 80's, has been CopVision's world since the beginning. A reality made of spectacular car chases, robberies, police brutality, domestic violence, everything archived in a popular serial based on the eyes of surveillance cameras, always ready to capture shards of reality. CopVision is a software which analyzes the live footage of that serial and tries to understand what it's about by comparing it to the material stored in its memory, where every episode it has seen before is archived. The software analyzes every frame, reconnecting its data to the data it already 'experienced', and tries to guess what will happen next, often suggesting appropriate cues for the characters. CopVision watches every TV programme as if it was COPS, creating interesting syncretisms between commercial television and reality show and giving birth to an irony which real life often lacks.
Tatiana Bazzichelli