Modern age, which is hypersensitive to privacy rights, is somehow uncomfortable. A lot of people positively upload their personal information over the Internet; but at the same time they loudly assert their privacy rights. On the other hand, a society of surveillance is surely proceeding; and in exchange for the violation of rights, we are placed in a contradictory situation where safety is seemingly hung in front of the eyes. As a matter of fact, people do not have so much interest in others. There is no person who is staring at you beyond monitoring cameras. For those around you, your existence is like "Henohenomoheji (seven hiragana characters grouped together to look like a face) of an ukiyoe drawn by Utagawa Hiroshige." Your rights are protected by the "Henohenomoheji."
In this exhibition, to express this concept, we present "Mona Lisa," a portrait that has gained anonymity by "Henohenomoheji." Also, as an interactive experience, we drew "Henohenomoheji" on the faces of visitors in real time and displayed them on a monitor. The images are in monochrome tone, reminiscent of surveillance cameras, to emphasize the visual of "Henohenomoheji" overwritten on the face. In addition, all the visitors wore masks under COVID-19 during the exhibition period, and we implemented the system so that it could detect them even when half of their faces were hidden.
