webspace.gallery is pleased to present Computers Watching Movies: a series of computationally-produced videos derived from computer-vision software written by Benjamin Grosser.

Tracking various areas of prominence in clips from 2001: A Space Odyssey; American Beauty; Inception; Taxi Driver; The Matrix; and Annie Hall, Grosser’s software records what computational systems see when they watch the same films as humans. As part of his exhibition at webspace.gallery, Grosser has also made available a previously unseen video produced from a clip from Good Will Hunting, which can be viewed here.

Whether running face detection algorithms on characters, attempting to predict the patterns inherrent in the movment of a plastic bag or tracking individual pieces of shrapnel from an explosion, Computers Watching Movies provides an intriguing insight into the phenomenological “experiences” of our less sentient counterparts.