Michael Aschauer

Browser extension, Poster, Installation

STWST upstairs and online
Part of exhibition: open throughout

The rapid development of artificial intelligence has not only revolutionized facial recognition but also democratized it. What was once cutting-edge technology is now accessible to virtually anyone—with far-reaching consequences. As facial recognition software becomes more widespread, so too does the number of so-called deepfakes: deceptively realistic images and videos that are manipulated or entirely generated using AI.

Against this backdrop, the boundaries between reality and fiction are becoming increasingly blurred. In a digital world where it’s often impossible to tell whether an image reflects reality or is a fabricated illusion, one pressing question emerges: What do (digital) media actually depict today?

In his project Monkey Planet, which he designed for the browser-based online art space Kunstsurfer, artist and programmer Michael Aschauer offers a humorous yet critical response. He adapted the browser extension Kunstsurfer so that all human faces on visited websites are replaced by monkey faces. The result is a depersonalized media landscape in which Homo sapiens has lost its visual dominance.

Aschauer plays with the potential effects of technical anonymization. If nothing we see needs to be real anymore, his work seems to suggest with a wink, then we might as well embrace the digital monkey circus for what it is—and maybe even laugh about it. (Text by Heiko Schmid)

Monkey Planet was conceived by Michael Aschauer for the browser-based online art space Kunstsurfer, inspired by Pierre Boulle's novel “Planet of the Apes” (1963, originally titled “La Planète des singes”). At Stadtwerkstatt, he is also presenting the project as a reference to the well-known film – with a movie poster.

Kunstsurfer is a browser-based art space. It runs on an add-on that recognises advertisements and replaces them with digital exhibitions. Kunstsurfer brings art into your daily browsing. It plays with the ways online advertisements look and work. It takes over commercial space to host experimental, digital site-specific curatorial and artistic projects.‍ https://kunstsurfer.org/

Michael Aschauer is an artiste-auteur numerique and creative full-stack digital engineer. He manipulates bytes, pixels, code, and data, seamlessly navigating medias and disciplines. His work captures the essence of both the human experience and the human condition in the Anthropocene, highlighting the interplay between life, machines, nature, technology, and society. His creations have been showcased globally in numerous exhibitions and festivals (such Ars Electronica, Linz, Centre Pompidou, Paris, CCCP, Barcelona, ZKM, Karlsruhe, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, Millenium Momenument Museum, Beijing, ..) He holds a degree from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, Austria, and currently resides in Southern France. https://m.ash.to