Taking one of the many techniques of digital visualization available to contemporary artists as a tool and context for the critical reflection upon social relationships and individual positions, the workshop was dedicated to a creative exploration of the formal and conceptual aspects of identity, the various ways of its representation and instrumentalisation. It was realized in July 2009 at the summer art school in Sremski Karlovci, Vojvodina, organized by University of the Arts in Belgrade.

The outset of the workshop were two photo-robots I made by selecting and morphing the three portraits of participants at the other summer art school workshops. Knowing the method and the group of people, but not which particular sitters I worked with, the Photo-Robot participants’ task was to individually choose one photo-robot and to emulate it using their imaging and detective skills, perceptiveness and intuition.

The visual credibility and personal expressions of the resulting virtual portraits simultaneously provide the space to play out and to reflect upon the material, political and ideological processes of production, manipulation, representation, consumption and evaluation of identities.

Combining the artistic research, lectures and film screenings, the objective of the workshop was to go beyond the conventional thematization of identity, and to provide a platform for practical and theoretical consideration of the complexity of art practice, its correlation with cultural policies, and its dependence on economic trends. Photo-Robot was devised from the 2D MutantZombies workshop.