Cubist Traces

Cubist Traces

Work created in 2026/2/7

”Cubist Traces” is a browser-based interactive artwork that accumulates contour lines extracted from webcam footage over time, transforming the viewer's movements into a multi-perspective composition reminiscent of Cubist paintings. Just as Picasso and Braque sought to depict objects simultaneously from multiple viewpoints, this work overlays the body across different temporal moments onto a single screen, spatializing time itself. The piece critically repurposes edge detection algorithms—originally developed for surveillance and facial recognition—as tools for aesthetic expression, reexamining the meaning of Cubist vision in the digital age. While early 20th-century Cubism manually fragmented perspective, this work automates the process through algorithmic means, reflecting how multiple viewpoints have become normalized through surveillance camera networks and sensor systems in contemporary society. By allowing bodily traces to accumulate rather than disappear, the work presents a critical reflection on memory and temporality in surveillance culture. Viewers shift from surveilled objects to active generators of their own ”Cubist portraits,” inverting the logic of facial recognition systems that seek to uniquely identify individuals. The browser-based implementation democratizes access to this generative experience, connecting art historical context with contemporary critiques of digital surveillance technology.