Know Your Collector (2026) is a collection of 565 synthetic portraits. Participants adjusted an invented face and chose a configuration to keep. The portrait records an association made by its collector, rather than a likeness taken from a photograph.
How a portrait is made
The renderer uses Google’s GNM Head model. A seed selects a synthetic identity; separate settings control pose, expression, lighting and the horizontal bands that describe the face. The project’s attribution notice identifies the model components used and their license.
This distinction matters: changing the treatment can leave the underlying identity recognizable. The resulting portrait is both an image and a saved set of instructions.
Sources: KYC — GNM attribution notice; GNM — Generative aNthropometric Model and Ecosystem
What a collector chose
The studio’s procedure required access through a patron edition, selection of one configuration and a public verification code posted from an established X account. That procedure linked an account to a choice. It did not establish that the generated face resembled its holder.
The final collection lets a reader examine saved configurations and different renderings. The repository’s 19 August 2026 export contains 565 records; that is an archive count, not a claim about later owners.
Sources: Know Your Collector — Preserved studio catalogue excerpts; KYC — Saved collection
Identity as an association
The title reverses an institutional demand to identify a customer. Here the recognizable face is constructed, while the decision to choose it belongs to a participant. In this reading, the internet is the medium of that public association; synthetic appearance and verified choice remain different kinds of evidence.
Development
The saved collection export records 565 configurations. Source
Sources and further reading
Artist statements describe intention. Reporting and interviews record different perspectives; exhibition announcements establish specific presentations. How sources are classified.
Artist / studio · Preserved primary-source excerpts
Know Your Collector — Preserved studio catalogue excerpts
Selected passages from the public catalogue before this editorial revision. These preserve the artist’s account; their inclusion is not independent corroboration. The capture date is not the work’s creation date.
Artist / studio · Implementation attribution
KYC — GNM attribution notice
Identifies the GNM components incorporated in the renderer and their Apache 2.0 license.
Technical reference · Model documentation and source
GNM — Generative aNthropometric Model and Ecosystem
Describes the parametric head model. Use in KYC is recorded separately in the project’s attribution notice; this is not a claim of an artistic collaboration or endorsement by Google.
Artist / studio · Interactive collection and saved configuration record
KYC — Saved collection
Uses the repository’s saved export generated 19 August 2026, containing 565 records. Export date is not a launch date; collection count is not a current-owner count.