[Man demonstrating the Google Arts & Culture app, taking a selfie as part of “A National Portrait” project at the UK’s National Portrait Gallery]
[App showing screen reading (English) “Portrait in Process”]
[Man]
[Phone showing a digital portrait]
[Man pressing button to submit portrait to “A National Portrait” project]
[Artist Es Devlin speaking, screen in background displaying the ever-changing “A National Portrait”]
[Devlin]
[Screen with portrait displayed, Devlin talking]
[Portrait on screen]
Es Devlin (interview): “It is a continually redrawing self-portrait, so everybody who joins it will cause the drawing to redraw itself and it is a reimagining of what national identity could feel like. It frames national identity as a continuous act of collective imagination, collective authorship. We are all present in this portrait together and we merge from one to the next.”
[Devlin in front of screen as it changes through different people’s portraits]
Es Devlin (interview): “Patriotism is something that’s, I think, been appropriated by the forces of division and separation. And actually patriotism doesn’t need to mean that. Patriotism could mean that we’re all together in one place on the planet, whatever it says in our passport, what’s indisputable is we are here and we can all be together in one portrait. And I think there are so many forces at work at the moment that fragment us, that distract us, separate us, that serve to remind us that we’re separate and isolated and individual. But of course technically we are all continuous with one another and with this planet.”
[Devlin drawing a man’s portrait]
[Man]
[Devlin drawing]
Es Devlin (interview): “That act of being present to one another can’t be replaced. However, I can’t be present as an artist in person to 55 million people. I wish I could. When they invent that technology, I’ll ditch the AI. Please invent that one. But right now, I’m seeking tools, with some urgency. I think the act of bringing this country together, wherever you are, this is not for people in London, this is for people who might not know that there is a National Portrait Gallery, who might never have had a portrait done of themselves.”
[Man using app to take a selfie]
[Phone processing selfie]
[Phone showing digital portrait]
Amit Sood (interview): “Well, I think Es Devlin has been working with our research teams now for over two years, around two years, we started the conversations then. And she’s been inputting and she has been coaching our engineers on what she expects from the experience, what she’s looking for, and she’s really been quite hands-on in that entire experience, and that’s what we look for a great collaboration.”
[Devlin drawing a portrait]
This script was provided by The Associated Press.