Containment Structures
Installation, 2026
It is becoming increasingly difficult to tell the difference between real life and media generated by artificial intelligence. In response, Containment Structures looks at our growing battle against highly realistic fake photos and videos. The work combines modern computer security with futuristic ideas to ask how we can definitively prove what is real. As visitors walk through the show, they explore different ways to protect the truth. Immersive light displays use the rhythm of a human heartbeat as undeniable proof of a living person. Other imagined devices measure the exact physical state of light to guarantee an image is authentic. The artwork also reveals how hidden digital patterns can be designed to deliberately scramble and break deepfake software. Alongside these concepts, large symbols argue that everyone deserves easy access to tools that keep us safe online. Ultimately, the exhibition shows that digital defence is no longer just a technical problem for experts, but rather a vital fight to reclaim the truth in a world where anything can be faked.
Rhythmic Dimming
Computer security uses Remote Photoplethysmography (rPPG) to spot deepfakes by detecting the invisible signs of a human heartbeat. Rhythmic Dimming explores that concept by drawing visitors from a red room into a space flooded with pure 525 to 530 nanometer green light. Security cameras use this exact wavelength to track the blood pumping beneath the skin. Although human eyes cannot actually see these tiny rhythmic changes in one another, standing together in this intense environment shifts our perception. The light washes away usual facial details and draws our attention to the hidden biological rhythms we all share. Ultimately, this collective experience asks us to consider how digital surveillance views humanity, reducing us to a basic proof of life rather than seeing who we truly are.
Coherence Window
To prove a video is real, we must show that it captured actual light, because artificial intelligence fakes only calculate pixels and never record physical light. Coherence Window explores a way we could achieve this using a speculative concept designed by Novak called Quantum-Level Sensor Hashing. As a security camera captures live video of people moving through the room, it takes in real physical light. The system then immediately marks these incoming light particles with a unique digital code. Visitors can watch this process running in real time on four screens below the camera. The space therefore functions as an environment where physical light is constantly stamped with a detectable fingerprint, ensuring that future systems will always be able to recognise the footage as completely authentic.
The Hydra Protocol
These nine works visualise the hidden digital noise created by the Hydra Protocol, an imagined defense system designed by Novak. When applied over an image, these patterns remain completely invisible to the human eye, yet they are engineered to break artificial intelligence models attempting to scrape and learn from the work. Real protective tools available today, such as Nightshade and Glaze, apply a fixed layer of noise that advanced AI might eventually learn to detect and bypass. The Hydra Protocol solves this by mutating with every single application. It constantly scrambles its mathematical patterns and shifts its colour structures to create a unique shield every time. Because no two layers ever share the same digital signature, an AI program trained to remove one pattern will completely fail against all the others.
Beyond Use
This work is based on a hypothetical application designed by Novak. When a person uploads a video, the software adds a hidden layer of digital noise that remains completely invisible to the human eye. If an artificial intelligence program tries to use this protected footage to generate a deepfake, the hidden layer forces the AI to mathematically collapse, scrambling the final video into an unusable mess. The four screens in the space display each step of this defence process, from the initial upload through to the final system failure. Surrounding the artwork, the walls are painted the exact shade of a blue crash screen, reflecting the colour a computer displays when it suffers a total error.
State Change
Protecting your personal files from being scraped by AI should be as easy as flipping a switch on your phone, a concept explored in State Change. A massive smartphone toggle switch transforms a complex digital defence system into a simple, everyday action. Two wall works next to it show the difference between being protected or unprotected. A clean, perfect picture represents an exposed file, while a distorted version shows how a protective shield intentionally scrambles the image to confuse machine networks.
