Overview
Between 8:00 pm and 9:00 pm on 19 January 2010, Hamas official Mahmoud al-Mahbouh was killed in room 230 of Al Bustan Rotana Hotel, Dubai. A month later the Dubai Police released a video composed of footage from hundreds of surveillance cameras in Dubai’s airport, shopping malls and hotels that traces the assassination to Mossad agents. Since its broadcast on YouTube, that video has been seen by countless viewers across the globe. It operated as an agent in a murder investigation.
Face Scripting also investigates the algorithmic technology of face recognition where unique individuals are identified from the blankness of crowds. This is not a documentary, just one combination culled from an infinite possibility of possible scenarios.
January 2012
This project was part of Sharjah Biennial 10
Commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation.
Credits
Co-produced by the Farook Foundation with Mohammed Hafiz, Dalia Asaad and Luis Augusto Teixeira de Freitas. Thanks to Nick Joyce/Enigma FX for in-kind sponsorship.
Artwork Images
Face Scripting: What Did the Building See?
Shumon Basar, Eyal Weizman, Jane & Louise Wilson
2011
Single screen projection, surround sound
Gauze box: 900 x 600 cm
2 mirrors: 300 x 380 cm each
1 HD projector, CCTV monitor
Installation view
Co-produced by the Farook Foundation with support from Luis Augusto Teixeira de Freitas and Mohammed Abdulkader Hafiz
Image courtesy of the Artists
Commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation