Thoughts from a shared stage in Dublin
Earlier this spring, Cap_able was invited to join the symposium “Cloak your Art, Confuse the Algorithm”, hosted by The Digital Hub in collaboration with Dr. Dunja Skoko and Elaine Hoey (NCAD).
Set in Dublin, the event brought together artists, researchers, and technologists exploring new ways to challenge the dominance of surveillance technologies.
We presented our journey, how fashion can become a shield, a language, a protest. But the power of the event lays in its plurality of voices. Here are some that left a mark.
Ben Zhao: Cloaking from the Inside
Computer science professor at the University of Chicago, Ben Zhao is the co-creator of Glaze, a tool designed to protect visual artists from the unauthorized use of their works by AI models.
His work sits at the intersection of privacy, adversarial attacks, and the ethics of machine learning. What struck us most was the calm radicality of Glaze: a way to disrupt training models not through protest, but through precision.
His contribution reminded us that resisting AI is not just a cultural gesture, it’s also a technical act.
Zach Blas: Queering the Algorithm
Artist and theorist Zach Blas offered a talk about his work that critiques surveillance culture through the lens of queer theory, mysticism, and speculative fiction.
One of the most powerful moments came when he described facial recognition as an act of possession, a machine trying to extract essence from skin.
Blas doesn’t just reject the system. He builds alternative cosmologies.
✨ Threads in Common
Across disciplines, a shared theme emerged: opacity as a right, and resistance as a creative, embodied practice.
From code to cloth, voice to vision, the participants of this symposium are designing ways to be seen differently, or not at all. For Cap_able, it was a reminder that fashion is part of a larger ecosystem of tactical aesthetics.
Let’s build a future where privacy and innovation coexist. Stay informed and explore ethical alternatives!
Learn more: capable.design
🔗 Sources
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https://www.linkedin.com/posts/the-digital-hub_throwback-thedigitalhub-technologistinresidence-activity-7312851781628153857-aH6s/
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https://glaze.cs.uchicago.edu/what-is-glaze.html
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https://zachblas.info
