Recognized / Not Recognized

Two pictures of the same news event: the first reappears a thousand times on the internet, the second all but disappears from view. What makes one news image pop up more often online and get more shares than another? The answer: many of the popular images trigger something in the subconscious, they bear resemblances to well-known works of Western art. With choreographer Marjolein Vogels, visual artist Coralie Vogelaar has made an intriguing video-installation in which their performers re-enact a number of such iconic new images. Looking ahead to the (near) future, Recognized / Not Recognized asks: will we remain in control of determining which images are successful and achieve ‘iconic’ status, or will algorithms increasingly take over?