This document discusses the topic of artificial faces and facial identification. It presents pictures and discusses cases of facial imposters and frauds. It also discusses the history of facial identification techniques from mugshots to modern digital identification. The document questions whether artificial faces truly exist and explores the topic as a semiotic conundrum.

1. 1
Do Artificial Faces Really Exist?
A Semiotic Conondrum
Massimo LEONE, University of Turin,
Shanghai University
28/01/2020 PIAST, Warsaw

2. 2
Facial Impostures
Picture 01: Clauvino da Silva’s escape (Photo
www.nypost.com)

3. 3
Facial Simulacra
Picture 02: Osamu Kitagawa’s masks (Photo
www.nypost.com)

4. 4
Facial Frauds
Picture 03: Gilbert Chikli’s imposture (Photo Getty
Images)

5. 5
Artificial Faces
Picture 04: The Website of ERC project FACETS,
composed with ‘artificial’ faces (Photo Elementsix)

6. 6
Face Identification
Picture 05: Alphonse Bertillon’s mugshots (Photo
Wikimedia).

7. 7
Faces and Lies
Picture 06: Paul Ekman’s Universal Facial
Expressions (Photo www.paulekman.com).

8. Picture 07: Domenico di Bartolo. 1441-2. La cura
degli infermi (Photo www.wikimedia.com).

9. 9
Facial Indexes
Picture 08: Chopin’s Death Mask by Auguste
Clesinger, in the Chopin Museum, Warsaw (Photo
Maja Trochimczyk).

10. Facial Indexes
Picture 09: Turin’s Holy Shroud (Photo Wikimedia).

11. 11
Facial Uncertainties
Picture 10: Mugshots of William and Will West (Photo Martin
Chalakowski).

12. 12
Facial Mistrust
Picture 11: W.J. Herschel’s Contract with Rajyadhar Konai (Photo W.J.
Herschel).

13. 13
Digital Indexes
Picture 12: Hakon Jørgensen’s Distant Identification (Photo
www.ncjrs.gov).

14. 14
Security at Large
Picture 12bis: Hakon Jørgensen’s Distant Identification, p. 4.
“Let us presume that a person arrested in
Stockholm, is identical with a sought-for
burglar from Paris. The description of the
arrested person tallies with that of the one
wanted, but the arrested person denies the
identity and might also possibly carry such
credentials as show him to be identical with
a French merchant travelling on business.
The police suspect him immediately of
carrying false credentials. How can the
Stockholm police decide this case?”

15. 15
The Face is Back
Picture 13: Apple Touch ID and Face ID (Photo www.appleworld.pl).

16. 16
Artificial Faces