Biometric Mirror (2018) by Lucy McRae challenges the seductive promises of technology by confronting viewers with distorted versions of their own faces. Developed in collaboration with Melbourne’s RMIT University, the installation employs biometric algorithms to analyze facial data, then outputs a re-rendered “future face” — exaggerated, uncanny, and unsettling.

Scale here is psychological rather than physical. The intimate act of looking in a mirror becomes monumental: a confrontation with one’s identity, mediated by code. Representation shifts from reflection to speculation, raising questions about how technology translates — and manipulates — the human form.

Ambiguity drives the work. Is the Biometric Mirror a beauty tool, a surveillance device, or a digital oracle? Its outputs destabilize trust in technology while exposing how biometric systems reduce individuality into data points. The familiar becomes alien, the self becomes other.

Materiality is minimal — a sleek, screen-based interface — but its impact is immersive. The object operates as both artwork and apparatus, collapsing distinctions between design experiment and critical artifact.

In the context of Gesamtkunstwerk, Biometric Mirror unifies art, science, and critique into one experience. It demonstrates that design is not only about constructing environments but also about shaping how we see ourselves. By turning the mirror into a speculative device, McRae transforms everyday reflection into a language of cultural provocation.