Tech From Here: NL · Sources

Prove you are human

Tech From Here: NL · Dutch Design Week 2026

The work this post covers and every source it draws on, each linked to the original.

The workI am [not] a Robot by Maximilian Herzen (Trier University of Applied Sciences), participant Emilia Fanslau, at Gebouw SFF (B18), Strijp-S. Also: I'd prefer not to by Bernadette Geiger, Félicien Goguey and Hans Lammerant, with Marta Revuelta, in CODE 2026: Terms of Intimacy (IMPAKT, with Werktank, Privacy Salon and In Fine), same building. Dutch Design Week 2026 ddw.nl

Research cited

  1. von Ahn L, Maurer B, McMillen C, Abraham D, Blum M. reCAPTCHA: human-based character recognition pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
  2. 5895):1465-1468, doi doi.org

Other sources

  1. Maximilian Herzen, website maximilianherzen.com
  2. Dutch Design Week programme: I'd prefer not to ddw.nl
  3. Dutch Design Week programme: CODE 2026: Terms of Intimacy ddw.nl
  4. Works (sub-pages under ddw.nl
  5. Who s watching discover the digital world of tomorrow at ddw (ddw.nl) ddw.nl
  6. Impakt presents code at dutch design week (impakt.nl) impakt.nl
  7. Code 2026 a satellite in my body (code.impakt.nl) code.impakt.nl
  8. Code 2026 i d prefer not to (code.impakt.nl) code.impakt.nl
  9. Code 2026 passphrase (code.impakt.nl) code.impakt.nl

Images, slide by slide

Slide 1
A visitor holds a card reading HUMAN above a keyboard, in front of walls of stacked gray cratesPhoto: Nick Bookelaar/Dutch Design WeekMuseum or journal record
Slide 2
White text projected on a bare plaster wall, asking the reader to prove they are a real human beingPhoto: Nick Bookelaar/Dutch Design WeekMuseum or journal record
Slide 3
Diagram: a person, an arrow to a box reading prove you are human with an empty checkbox, an arrow to a dashed box with a question mark, and below two boxes, what exactly is being verified and who benefits from the testImage: RN Collins studio, code-drawn. Checked against DDW programme page, I am [not] a Robot, Maximilian Herzen, (the two questions are DDW's; the test box is generic)Museum or journal record
Slide 4
Diagram in four steps: an old book is scanned; a word the scanner could not read is set aside; a person types that word when a site checks they are human; the answer becomes part of the book's digital textImage: RN Collins studio, code-drawn
Slide 5
Walls of stacked gray plastic crates holding small devices, above a dark tablePhoto: Nick Bookelaar/Dutch Design WeekMuseum or journal record
Slide 6
Diagram of a chain of four boxes, a small task such as a click, a label or a typed word, a labeled example, a training set, a model trained on it, then two dashed boxes, who does it train and and for whomImage: RN Collins studio, code-drawn. Checked against RN Collins, AI technologist (opinion line on this slide); human labor behind machine learning: DDW programme page, I'd prefer not toMuseum or journal record
Ring frame
Hollerith card sorting machine, municipal gas and electricity works, LeidenFrame: Erfgoed Leiden, CC0, croppedMuseum or journal record

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