Ultravioletto's Neural Mirror Explores AI and Empathy at Spoleto Festival

At the Festival dei 2mondi in Spoleto (June 30–July 14), the Fondazione Carla Fendi promoted Neural Mirror, an interaction design installation by the Roman studio Ultravioletto. Visitors are scanned and their image is transformed into a point cloud via facial recognition algorithm, creating a virtual alter ego that reflects emotions and inner states. The work uses AI to generate empathy, contrasting with big data exploitation by tech giants. Data on gender, age, and emotions is transcribed onto paper by 4.5-meter-tall plotters. The collaboration arose through director Gabriele Gianni. Ultravioletto, founded by Bruno Capezzuoli, Tito Cetroni, Giulio Pernice, Francesco Bruno Viteri, and Massimo Zomparelli, has previously intervened in historic Roman sites like Palazzo Altemps, Temple of Hadrian, and Villa Torlonia. They view their installations as a research laboratory for interaction design, which they prefer to call "progettazione dell'interazione" (interaction planning). The team comes from diverse backgrounds including web design, architecture, video experimentation, and advertising art direction.