Debunking the fascist fans

TMarussiac and the Technology That Reads Faces: When Art Investigates Extremism

Tomáš Marušiak, known under the artistic name Marussiac, is pushing the boundaries of contemporary art by integrating new technological approaches into his work. In his latest project, he employs a completely new technology of digital recognition of human facial emotions. This innovative method is specifically designed for use in visual arts and represents a fresh breakthrough on the international art scene.

Facial expressions have become a key medium for Marussiac to visually explore deep psychological responses to artistic or ideological stimuli. Through artificial intelligence and facial expression recognition technology, it is possible to analyze not only conscious but also subconscious and deeply rooted emotions. This approach belongs to the emerging field of neuroaesthetics—an interdisciplinary method that studies how the human brain reacts to visual stimuli and works of art.

“It’s like a truth detector or a polygraph for art crimes,” says Marussiac. “It helps uncover hidden attitudes in viewers. In this case, we’re talking about visual crimes—crimes of thought that can be visualized.”

In 2017, he embarked on a controversial project aimed at identifying potential sympathizers of fascism in Europe, with a focus on the Slovak Republic. He invited 1,025 volunteers from various social backgrounds—including doctors, preachers, and judges—and exposed them to videos denying the Holocaust. Their emotional responses were recorded via webcams and analyzed using facial emotion recognition software.

The collected data revealed disturbing results. A portion of the participants reacted with agreement or even covert pleasure. The experiment showed that extremist views still persist, even among influential sectors of society. “Not everything can be measured in words. Images—and our reactions to them—often speak more clearly. Here, technology and art have joined forces in the fight against hate,” the artist adds.

Marussiac warns of the growing threat of extremism and believes that visual art, when combined with artificial intelligence and neuroscientific methods, can serve as a powerful tool for detection and prevention. His project merges ethics, science, and visual power to stimulate social dialogue about truth, memory, and collective responsibility.