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As an artist I make systematic conducted studies revealing the mechanisms within our visual culture by using quantitative research methods, at the moment being A/B testing, eye-tracking and image recognition software.


Coralie Vogelaar
Zomerdijkstraat 18-2
1079XB Amsterdam
Marcusstraat 52
1091TK Amsterdam

Email
Twitter
Tel. +31(0)614205564

As an artist I make systematic conducted studies revealing the mechanisms within our visual culture by using quantitative research methods, at the moment being A/B testing, eye-tracking and image recognition software.

Ⓒ 2009 - 2016


Working Method

Observation

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Formulate a simple question from a personal interest

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Think of an interesting research
method suitable for the question

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Try to use methods from other
fields or new emerging technologies

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Be aware that a clear research can be repeated

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Believe simple ideas can produce complex thoughts

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and can result in multiple works

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Allow yourself to be surprised by the outcome

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Be honest

Recognized / Not Recognized - a comparative movement analysis of popular and unpopular news images, 2016
detail of a two channel video installation

Credits:
Choreografie: Marjolein Vogels
Dansers: Madelyn Bullard, Chris Guerematchi, Kenzo Kusuda, Patrick Schmatzer, Ilija Surla, Loris Casalino, Pedro Ines, Peter Clark, Loris Casalino, Cherish Menzo
Licht: Geek Zwetsloot
Camera: Susanne Bakker
Geluid nabewerking: Marlon Wolterink
Advies: Iris Sikking, Roel Arkesteijn Made possible by: Stimuleringsfonds voor Creatieve Industrie, Stichting MOTI, Museum of the Image, Amsterdam Fonds voor de Kunsten

RECOGNIZED / NOT RECOGNIZED -

The unforeseen has a hard time happening because it is not yet in the database.’ ( Hito Steyerl, ‘Politics of Post-Representation’, Dis-Magazine, 2014 )

My latest project Recognized / Not Recognized revolves around the question: ‘What features determine ‘successfull’ news photos?’

From a selection of worldwide press agency databases (which include amateur witness photos) I scraped all the news photos in relation to the ten events that received the most coverage in the past five years. This resulted in a database of approx. 850.000 images. By using image recognition software from Google (and some proxies), I determined how many times an individual image exists on the google indexed internet. In other words, the reproduction rate of each image is calculated.

Press photos from a big news event have a wide range of variables but are in a way very uniform - since they are all witness photographs –, therefore my database consists of an ideal set for a cross-sectional study.

RECOGNIZED / NOT RECOGNIZED - A COMPARATIVE MOVEMENT ANALYSIS OF POPULAR AND UNPOPULAR NEWS IMAGES
2016

The unforeseen has a hard time happening because it is not yet in the database.’
( Hito Steyerl, ‘Politics of Post-Representation’, Dis-Magazine, 2014 )

My latest project Recognized / Not Recognized revolves around the question: ‘What features determine ‘successfull’ news photos?’

From a selection of worldwide press agency databases (which include amateur witness photos) I scraped all the news photos in relation to the ten events that received the most coverage in the past five years. This resulted in a database of approx. 850.000 images. By using image recognition software from Google (and some proxies), I determined how many times an individual image exists on the google indexed internet. In other words, the reproduction rate of each image is calculated.

Press photos from a big news event have a wide range of variables but are in a way very uniform - since they are all witness photographs –, therefore my database consists of an ideal set for a cross-sectional study.

Choreography: Marjolein Vogels
Dancers: Madelyn Bullard, Chris Guerematchi, Kenzo Kusuda, Patrick Schmatzer, Ilija Surla, Loris Casalino, Pedro Ines, Peter Clark, Loris Casalino, Cherish Menzo

We need to see images not just as inert objects that convey meaning but as animated beings with desires, needs, appetites, demands, and drives of their own. ( ‘What do Images Want?’, 2005 van W.J.T Mitchell )

The analyses of this cross-sectional study finds its way in several visual presentations. The core presentation is a movement study. This choreography for nine dancers is designed by Marjolein Vogels based on the characteristics of ‘successful’ and ‘unsuccessful’ news images, and is presented in a two-channel video installation.

The video installation places a choreography based on successful images in conjunction with a choreography based on unsuccessful images. All original photographs were taken at the same moment, on the same spot and for the same press agency. By juxtaposing these two series of images, as captured by dancers, they form a parallel choreography in which the dancers move from one frozen position into another position. Each pose is an expression of an actual photograph. The sequences loop as a never-ending study in movement on news photography.

From the enormous sea of photographic data, we tend to choose and therefore find those images that suit our eye and affirm the Western compositional tradition we are surrounded by. The google algorythm is already built on the validation of certain presets and stereotypes. At the moment – with a little bit of effort – unsuccessful photos can still be found behind a login wall. However in the future these images would not even be registrered by the camera, and if the camera delivers them than it is very unlikely they can be retrieved. Unsuccesful news images are then being considered as dirty data and are simply wiped from the system.

We need to see images not just as inert objects that convey meaning but as animated beings with desires, needs, appetites, demands, and drives of their own. ( ‘What do Images Want?’, 2005 van W.J.T Mitchell )

The analyses of this cross-sectional study finds its way in several visual presentations. The core presentation is a movement study. This choreography for nine dancers is designed by Marjolein Vogels based on the characteristics of ‘successful’ and ‘unsuccessful’ news images, and is presented in a two-channel video installation.

The video installation places a choreography based on successful images in conjunction with a choreography based on unsuccessful images. All original photographs were taken at the same moment, on the same spot and for the same press agency. By juxtaposing these two series of images, as captured by dancers, they form a parallel choreography in which the dancers move from one frozen position into another position. Each pose is an expression of an actual photograph. The sequences loop as a never-ending study in movement on news photography.

From the enormous sea of photographic data, we tend to choose and therefore find those images that suit our eye and affirm the Western compositional tradition we are surrounded by. The google algorythm is already built on the validation of certain presets and stereotypes. At the moment – with a little bit of effort – unsuccessful photos can still be found behind a login wall. However in the future these images would not even be registrered by the camera, and if the camera delivers them than it is very unlikely they can be retrieved. Unsuccesful news images are then being considered as dirty data and are simply wiped from the system.

Recognized / Not Recognized - a comparative movement analysis of popular and unpopular news images, 2016 installation shot from SPRING festival Utrecht, Stadsschouwburg