You Have a New Follower!

Modified opening times from October 6. to November 22, 2024!

Due to renovations in the atriums 8/9, the Digiloglounge will only be open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from October 6 to November 22. Access to the exhibition is via the Städtische Galerie. Admission is free.

Social media constantly demands our attention through notifications while companies use AI applications to personalize content and bind us to the respective social media platform. Meanwhile, we voluntarily or unknowingly disclose private data online and in monitored public spaces. The exhibition »Digiloglounge N°4: You have a new Follower!« examines the impact of these digital services and technologies on our identity and our perception of the world and asks what risks we are prepared to take. 

Social media and digital services have a significant influence on both private and political decisions. Algorithms filter the information that reaches us and we are constantly distracted by notifications. This complicates a differentiated debate on social and political issues. As the use of artificial intelligence in data analysis increases, systems are emerging that claim to be able to predict our behavior and decisions. How aware are we of the risks we are taking in this digital reality? What role do AI applications play in the spread of prejudice? Which implications do biometric facial recognition and data collection have on our privacy, identity, and security? To what extent do companies and users bear responsibility? 

Featuring a selection of artistic and scientific exhibits, the “Digiloglounge N°4” invites visitors to explore both the risks and the positive effects of the digital transformation in order to encourage informed decision-making.

»Platform Sweet Talk« (2021) by Ben Grosser reveals the mechanisms underlying social media platforms used to manipulate user behavior through personalized notifications in order to generate maximum user engagement.

»Fake Me Deep« (2021) by Marnix de Nijs addresses the ways in which artificial intelligence can impact our identity. By uploading a portrait photo and providing personal information, visitors can experience how AI draws conclusions about their behavior, character traits, and future on the basis of the data provided.

Using AI software, »The Follower« (2023-2024) by Dries Depoorter matches images from live public cameras in popular locations with photos taken in those same spots by influencers that were then published on Instagram, showing just how easy it is to link the digital portrayal of people with real surveillance footage.

»Smile to Vote – Political Physignomy Analytics« (2017-2024) by Alexander Peterhänsel presents a fictional scenario in which AI systems use biometric data such as facial features to predict political preferences. The project addresses the risks of facial recognition and “micro-targeting” in election campaigns and shows how such technologies could affect democratic processes. »Touch & Learn: Cybersecurity Card Games« (2023) is a scientific exhibit developed by KIT | Institute of Applied Informatics and Formal Description Methods that playfully educates visitors on how to protect themselves against cybercrime. »DareData – Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART)«(2024) is a joint project between the KIT | Institute for Human and Industrial Engineering and ZKM | Karlsruhe. Visitors can determine their own risk profile and use this as an opportunity to reflect on the extent to which they disclose personal information in day-to-day digital life, despite potential risks to their privacy.

digilog@bw - digitalization in dialogue
The exhibition format »Digiloglounge« is part of the research project digilog@bw, a research network of universities and research institutions in Baden-Württemberg, in which more than 50 researchers from the humanities, social sciences, law, economics, media and communication sciences, ethics and computer science as well as interdisciplinary technology assessment are involved.