The Decay of Reality Interactive Mirror accompanies The Decay of Reality book. The book touches on issues surrounding AR filters in social media. They can cause users to lose appreciation for their real face or forget what they actually look like. The mirror helps the user ground themselves and find their face again.

    The experience starts with the prompt “Look into the mirror to find your face.” The timer then begins and the user is taken through a video journey created by feeding a GANBreeder words from the message. The confusing and frankly creepy imagery the GanBreeder creates mimics the feeling of dissassociation one may have after seeing infinite versions of themselves online. At the end of the experience, the video becomes a mirror and the user’s face is revealed in front of them. There only “real face” is the one created by a true reflection.

   The surprising mirror reveal ending is made possible by the use of a dielectric mirror, a form of treated glass where when there is light shining through (iPad screen), it will show through. However when there is no light (iPad off or black video), the glass reflects what is infront of it, becoming a mirror. The mirror has been used frequently as a symbol from mythology to Disney’s Snow White for personal reflection and vanity. Much of my research looked into these stories of inspiration, leading me to choose Snow White’s ‘Magic Mirror’ by Leigh Harline for the audio.

   The frame was built using a shadow box frame as a base, adding another decorative frame and wood pieces to create a more decadent mirror. It was then spray painted gold and treated with gold leaf. 

   The words in the video are a combination of my own and ones found, which are quoted and referenced. The imagery created by GANbreeders allows a machine to take the words and interpert them removing the human from much of the creation. This process is intention to show the ways machines can interpert our inputs both in accurate ways and inaccurate causing the very confusing world the internet has become.