Reflections on artist Trevor Paglen’s (ab)use of the JAFFE dataset

Reflections on Trevor Paglen’s (ab)use of the JAFFE dataset

The article contains a historical account and commentary on Trevor Paglen and Kate Crawford’s unauthorized use of the JAFFE dataset.

The paper proposes that the Egyptian-style design on a 5-6th century CE magical amulet discovered at Nea Paphos in Cyprus (Inv. no. PAP/FR 44/2011) draws upon an apotropaic design against the Evil Eye known as the “All-Suffering Eye,” which dates back to the time of the early Roman Empire and is common on Byzantine “Holy Rider” medallions. [No…[Read more]

Twenty-five years ago, my colleagues Miyuki Kamachi and Jiro Gyoba and I designed and photographed JAFFE, a set of facial expression images intended for use in a study of face perception. In 2019, without seeking permission or informing us, Kate Crawford and Trevor Paglen exhibited JAFFE in two widely publicized art shows. In addition, they…[Read more]

During the 2nd and 1st millennia BCE, the Nile’s Eastern Delta was supposedly the locale of truculent “shepherds” who were inimical to Egypt. These problematic herdsmen seem largely to have been refractions of foreign powers generated by independent etymological confusions, behind which lie the Hyksos and the Assyrians; however, the caric…[Read more]

“Out of Sorts: A Queer Crip in the Archive” analyzes the archive story of a queer, crip, wheelchair-using researcher at a U.S. archive. The article considers the archive as a material site where disability studies and disability history are practised; crip time and crip knowledge; the experience of feeling out of sorts; and the tension between the…[Read more]

This is a gut-reaction response to the recent article “The value of mass-digitised cultural heritage content in creative contexts” by Melissa Terras, et al, published in Big Data and Society on April 6, 2021, doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517211006165. My main argument is that exploiting labor and appropriating cultural heritage are int…[Read more]

Mihalic, Alicia (2020) ‘Principles and Practical Implications of the Reconstruction of Historical Dress Artefacts in Museum Environment’. in Simončič, K. N. (ed.) From Replica of Historical Dress to Costume. Zagreb: University of Zagreb, Faculty of Textile Technology. pp. 42-60.

Late Halaf female figurines of clay/pottery from northeastern Syria (Type LH.1A; 6th millennium BCE) have close parallels in predynastic Egyptian figurines (4th millennium BCE) in the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology. The lack of provenance for the Egyptian statuettes – all of which were purchased – has long inhibited any comparison with the…[Read more]

Two art exhibitions, “Training Humans” and “Making Faces,” and the accompanying essay “Excavating AI: The politics of images in machine learning training sets” by Kate Crawford and Trevor Paglen, are making substantial impact on discourse taking place in the social and mass media networks, and some scholarly circles. Critical scrutiny reveals,…[Read more]

A didactic poster (written for schools) presented on the occasion of the conference “La città com’era, com’è, e come la vorremmo”, organized within the project “Pavia 100 Torri – Osservatorio Permanente sull’Antico”, held at the UNIPV on February 8th, 2013.

Poster presented at the 5th Annual Birmingham Egyptology Symposium: “Conflict in Ancient Culture”, 11th May 2018, University of Birmingham.

Review of: I. von Bredow 2017, Kontaktzone Vorderer Orient und Ägypten. Orte, Situationen und Bedingungen für primäre griechisch-orientalische Kontakte vom 10. bis zum 6. Jahrhundert v. Chr.”, Stuttgart

The paper aims at providing a historical presentation and a brief description of the quite unknown manufacts kept in the Egyptian collection of the Archaeological Museum of the University of Pavia. The materials, most of them gifts given by scholars, travellers and scientists, in the fist mid of the 19th century, are a good evidence both of the…[Read more]

The present paper analyses the mutual influences between Egypt and the city of Karkemish (present Jarabulus) during both the 2nd and the 1st Millennium BC. This Syrian city was indeed an important site located on the Euphrates river, along the border between modern Turkey and Syria and is surely better known for its strong relationship with the…[Read more]

A brief reflection on the concept of pre-classical antiquity square, analyzing some archaeological and textual sources.

Some historical and scientific information about Giuseppe Botti “the Second”, especially about his contacts with the Università degli Studi di Pavia, regarding an unpublished papyrus of Amduat (12th hour) (Italy).