Artificial Life & Intelligence
Honorary Mention

Tinder_gun_boys_@Brussels_

Loïs Soleil (FR)

The multimedia installation Tinder_gun_boys_@Brussels_ was born from a collection of screenshots of heterosexual men proudly posing with weapons on the dating app Tinder. To grow this collection, Loïs Soleil developed an artificial intelligence able to detect weapons and a robot autonomously swiping on Tinder, harvesting hundreds of screenshots a day without direct human interaction. 

These screenshots were then printed onto tatami mats, used for feminist self-defense classes, resulting in an abstract video. In addition, with the help of lawyers compiling and discussing the legal questions raised by this work, a video entitled How not to get sued as an artist was created. 

As an active component of the installation, physical and verbal self-defense classes have frequently been conducted during exhibitions, alongside legal workshops exploring the line between artistic freedom, critical expression, and the right to privacy. 

The multimedia installation Tinder_gun_boys_@Brussels_ was born from a collection of screenshots of heterosexual men proudly posing with weapons on the dating app Tinder. To grow this collection, Loïs Soleil developed an artificial intelligence able to detect weapons and a robot autonomously swiping on Tinder, harvesting hundreds of screenshots a day without direct human interaction. 

These screenshots were then printed onto tatami mats, used for feminist self-defense classes, resulting in an abstract video. In addition, with the help of lawyers compiling and discussing the legal questions raised by this work, a video entitled How not to get sued as an artist was created. 

As an active component of the installation, physical and verbal self-defense classes have frequently been conducted during exhibitions, alongside legal workshops exploring the line between artistic freedom, critical expression, and the right to privacy. 

loissoleil.com/tinder
vimeo.com/1084594874
www.instagram.com/p/C_P7n17NgZe/?img_index=1

Concept, creation, research: Loïs Soleil
AI & robot implementation: Loïs Soleil with the help of her teacher Julien Dutertre Legal
Consultation & research: Jens Van Lathem and Anna Dewandeler
Self-defense integration: with Pauline Dornat
Self-defense video: filmed by Livia Cuveillier & Roseanna Jackson Wall, and directed by Loïs Soleil 

With support from: Marres Huis voor Hedendaagse Cultuur Maastricht, Jester – Kunstorganisatie Genk; Biennale de l'Image Possible (BIP) Liège; Federal Eco Foam – Lommel.  

Loïs Soleil (FR)
Through digital art, performance, installation, poetry, and sound, Franco-Scottish artist Loïs Soleil’s artistic practice aims to bridge the emotional and the political by posing intersectional cyber/techno-feminist questions. Her work confronts the everyday sexist structures of the web, its bias algorithms, and culture. It explores the relationships between pop culture, identity, and voyeurism; to illustrate a female gaze through which sexuality, love, vulnerability, and empowerment can be expressed. From the leitmotif of the bedroom, to relationships, everyday rituals, and poetry, the artist’s work is autobiographically direct, raw and emotionally vulnerable in its hyper intimacy. 

Loïs Soleil (FR)
Through digital art, performance, installation, poetry, and sound, Franco-Scottish artist Loïs Soleil’s artistic practice aims to bridge the emotional and the political by posing intersectional cyber/techno-feminist questions. Her work confronts the everyday sexist structures of the web, its bias algorithms, and culture. It explores the relationships between pop culture, identity, and voyeurism; to illustrate a female gaze through which sexuality, love, vulnerability, and empowerment can be expressed. From the leitmotif of the bedroom, to relationships, everyday rituals, and poetry, the artist’s work is autobiographically direct, raw and emotionally vulnerable in its hyper intimacy. 

Tinder_gun_boys_@Brussels_ offers humor and resilience. The project collects Tinder images of heterosexual men posing with weapons as their dating profile picture. These images are then made into mats used in self-defense classes. Finally, and presumably after suffering another form of attack, the artist has run talks and workshops dissecting the legality of using these images in her work. The project functions as a razor-sharp calling out of the necropatriarchal power regime, in which male bodies have a sovereign monopoly and right to violence. Tinder_gun_boys_@Brussels_ also provides a lens through which to observe how many technologies and systems propagate patriarchy. The work is a brilliant piece of activism—conceptual, physical, and pragmatic.  

Tinder_gun_boys_@Brussels_ offers humor and resilience. The project collects Tinder images of heterosexual men posing with weapons as their dating profile picture. These images are then made into mats used in self-defense classes. Finally, and presumably after suffering another form of attack, the artist has run talks and workshops dissecting the legality of using these images in her work. The project functions as a razor-sharp calling out of the necropatriarchal power regime, in which male bodies have a sovereign monopoly and right to violence. Tinder_gun_boys_@Brussels_ also provides a lens through which to observe how many technologies and systems propagate patriarchy. The work is a brilliant piece of activism—conceptual, physical, and pragmatic.