Data as a Construct: Manipulation of Perception

Created an interactive artwork inspired by Baudrillard's concept of simulacra using TouchDesigner and thermal printing.

In an increasingly data-mediated society, this installation symbolizes a basic philosophical question: is what we perceive to be true, or has it been systematically falsified? The random phrases and images printed on the thermal receipts, rather than representing the user's input, imply that the data we engage with, whether in elections or other digital transactions, is vulnerable to manipulation. Just as the EVM's vote tally might hypothetically be hacked, so can the information we receive from the media, social platforms, or government agencies be manipulated to sustain certain narratives or obfuscate the truth.

Drawing on Jean Baudrillard's concepts of simulacra and simulation, this piece implies that the unpredictability of the printed results is not an error, but rather a planned production of an artificial world. Baudrillard stated that in postmodern society, we frequently encounter "hyperreality"—a world in which the line between the real and the falsified disappears, leaving only an infinite replication of data with no basis in reality. The randomness of the receipts reflects this condition: the written words are like Baudrillard's simulacra, disconnected from the user's original intent and purpose yet presented as if they had significance.