M.O.N.A

Mechanical Omnipresent Network Analyser

MONA is an interactive installation exploring the persistence of digital memory and surveillance through a brutalist cluster of CRT monitors. The piece acts as an omnipresent observer, greeting visitors with dark, glitch-heavy visuals driven by real-time facial analysis.

The "Crankshaft" of the Engine
At the core of the installation lies a custom Python-based recognition pipeline that serves as the mechanical crankshaft for the visual engine. Bridging legacy hardware with modern AI, the system processes webcam streams via TouchDesigner to analyze visitors against a massive dataset in real-time.

Technical Architecture & Logic
To create a "living" archive of the exhibition, I implemented a dual-index strategy using FAISS and the NVIDIA FFHQ 1024 dataset (75k images):

1. First Encounter (The Doppelgänger): For new visitors, the system vectorizes their face and queries it against the static FFHQ dataset. The result projects the user alongside their five closest matches—digital lookalikes pulled from the latent space.

2. Recursive Memory: Simultaneously, the system writes the visitor's vector data to a dynamic, persistent FAISS index.

3. Recognition: Upon a second visit, MONA identifies the subject against this accumulated memory. It triggers a specific "Person Recognized" visual loop, confronting the viewer not just with the dataset, but with their own previous data trace.

Made with :

• Clément Boucher (Project Owner)

• Raton Gosselin (Backend Developpement)

• Maxime Simard (Visual Artist)

• Jean-Christophe Zéphir (Sound Designer and Programmer)

• Dominic Roberts (Visual Artist)