face as material
Face replacement, AI-generated likeness and performance-based image reconstruction were used as a visible process.
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synthetic media / 2020/2021
Morgan Freeman
Synthetic Likeness
Face replacement and AI-generated likeness used as research into image trust.
process gridTransition between performer, synthetic likeness and public recognition. The image is treated as a research plate, not as a celebrity portrait.
case
Developed in 2020 and publicly circulated in 2021, the Morgan Freeman work used synthetic likeness as a research medium.
The project used face replacement and AI-generated likeness to examine image trust, authorship and the changing status of the moving image. It belongs to an early public moment in which deepfake technology moved from internet spectacle into journalism, television and cultural debate.
research question
What happens to a moving image when likeness becomes editable?
The work asks how much of a public figure is carried by the face, how much by performance, and how much by the viewer's expectation. It uses synthetic media to test the stability of recognition itself.
recognition under pressure
The work studies how quickly credibility can appear when a face is already part of collective visual memory.
before the boom
The work predates the current generative-AI wave and sits inside the earlier debate around deepfakes and image trust.
public circulation
The work circulated through international media and public debate around deepfakes, synthetic likeness and image trust.
- television60 Minutes and other broadcast contexts around synthetic media and public trust.
- online mediaArticles and image culture coverage discussing the Morgan Freeman synthetic likeness work.
- dutch mediaTelevision, journalism and debate around deepfake technology, public figures and visual credibility.
- archiveDocumentation, process images and press references can be connected here as the case archive expands.
archive note
The work marks an early point in De Jong's research into synthetic media, public image culture and computational image systems.
It connects later work around AI film, de-aging, public memory, image archives and the question of what happens when images stop functioning as fixed evidence and become technical reconstructions.
disclosure
This work is presented as synthetic media. It is not documentary footage and should not be read as participation or endorsement by Morgan Freeman.
This work is presented as synthetic media. It is not documentary footage and should not be read as participation or endorsement by Morgan Freeman.
back to archiveSelected works, 2020–2026
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