In 2021/22 I wrote and directed a film on an algorithm used to predict criminal behaviour: OxRec.
Yesterday, 12-02-2026, Reclassering Nederland announced to stop with OxRec, due to a 'scathing' report published by the 'Inspectie Justitie en Veiligheid.'
This comes 8 years after the introduction of OxRec.
While it is tempting to wonder how many years it would have taken if the Inspection wasn't part of the very Ministry they're inspecting, we celebrate this step in the right direction.
Next: cancel all other predictive models. First: prediction is discriminatory by definition, this is not a mistake in the design, it's its main job.
And second — this one is tough: How fair is it to both predict and punish criminal behaviour? Or, do you assume free will or not?
—
Credits:
Tom Enzler (d.o.p.)
Emma Pelckmans & Raoul Copier (actors)
NIAS, Rijksakademie
Photo credit first image: Sander van Wettum
Algemeen Dagblad, 28 juni 2025, p15.
Haaretz, 27 juni 2025, p1.
"Israeli soldiers in Gaza told Haaretz that the army has deliberately fired at Palestinians near aid distribution sites over the past month.
Conversations with officers and soldiers reveal that commanders ordered troops to shoot at crowds to drive them away or disperse them, even though it was clear they posed no threat.
One soldier described the situation as a total breakdown of the Israel Defense Forces' ethical codes in Gaza.
According to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza, 549 people have been killed near aid centers and in areas where residents were waiting for UN food trucks since May 27. Over 4,000 have been wounded, but the exact number of those killed or injured by IDF fire remains unclear.
- 100,000 dead: What we know about Gaza's true death toll
- 'Left to die quietly': Palestinians watch world move on from Gaza after Israel-Iran deal
- Families of Israeli hostages urge Netanyahu to channel Iran achievements into Gaza deal
Haaretz has learned that the Military Advocate General has instructed the IDF General Staff's Fact-Finding Assessment Mechanism – a body tasked with reviewing incidents involving potential violations of the laws of war – to investigate suspected war crimes at these sites.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid centers began operating in the Strip at the end of May. The circumstances of the foundation's establishment and its funding are murky: it is known to have been set up by Israel in coordination with U.S. evangelicals and private security contractors. Its current CEO is an evangelical leader close to U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The GHF operates four food distribution sites – three in southern Gaza and one in the center – known in the IDF as "rapid distribution centers" (Mahpazim). They are staffed by American and Palestinian workers and secured by the IDF from a distance of several hundred meters.
Thousands, and at times tens of thousands, of Gazans arrive daily to collect food from these sites.
Contrary to the foundation's initial promises, distribution is [...]
On show until July 27th at Platform POST, Arnhem: 'Confined to some, debarred from others'
Join us coming wednesday (June 25th (15:00-16:00), for a guided tour through the show by yours truly.
Sign up through Platform POST
Something i've been pondering about: the movie projector gave rise to film as a medium by enabling us to order photographs in time. Could it be that radiance field algorithms gave rise to a new medium in a similar fashion by allowing us to order photographs in space?
Honoured to be a part of 'Circulate', curated by @vanvelsenvincent en @mirelva .
Among many great works of fellow artists my humble contribution is entitled 'The Deprivation of Provisions Regulation Room'.
(For those I've missed at the opening: unfortunately i couldn't be there, struck with stomach flu)
About this work:
In this work a photograph of a bare room in the Enforcement and Surveillance Location of the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) in Hoogeveen, serves as the background for a text in which Glas describes the daily life of the man residing in this cell. The life of this man is dictated by the so-called Deprivation of Provisions Regulation, a set of measures that the COA (on behalf of
the Ministry of Justice and Security) can impose on asylum seekers. While everyone is entitled to shelter during an asylum process, and no one should be detained without the possibility of deportation, criminal charges, or a legal decision, the COA achieves just that
by employing a web of ambiguous terms and regulations. In this work, Glas reveals how the Netherlands deliberately obscures constitutionally guaranteed human rights through a labyrinth of complex bureaucracy.
Picture 1: Maarten Nauw
Picture 2: Peter Tijhuis
@coa_nederland
For the exhibit at the Edith Russ Haus for Media Art I made a selection of books on the free will debate, with authors ranging from free will defenders such as Daniel Dennett to fierce free will skeptics like Derk Pereboom.
The set of books was gifted to the library of the prison closest to the exhibition venue and a copy of the library is available for reading in the exhibition space.
Selection:
Gary Watson (Ed.) - Free Will (2nd edition)
Robert Kane - The Oxford Handbook of Free Will 2nd
Galen Strawson - Things That Bother Me
Sam Harris - Free will
Daniel M. Wegner, Daniel Gilbert - The Illusion of Conscious Will
Peter Bieri - Das Handwerk der Freiheit
R. Jay Wallace - Der moralische Nexus
Robert Sapolsky - Determined
Daniel D. Denneth - Elbow Room
Benjamin Libet - Mind Time
Derk Pereboom - Free Will, Agency, and Meaning in Life
John Searle - Freedom and Neurobiology
Focquaert, Shaw, Waller (Ed.) - The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy and Science of Punishment
Elizabeth Anscombe - Intention
Carolina Sartorio - Causation and Free Will
Bruce N. Waller - The Stubborn System of Moral Responsibility
Ishtiyaque Haji - Moral Appraisability
Martine Nida-Rümelin - Der Blick von innen
Peter Tse - The neural basis of free will
Thought about it forever and now its open: 'Rooms of Muted Violence.' So grateful for everyone's effort! Edit Russ Haus for Media Art, 24.04.2024 - 09.06.2024
This photo was taken in 1989, one day before the Rotterdam prison De Schie opened. A group of protester plan to walk 7 times around the building in order to—nod to Jericho—tear down its walls.
Sounds like absolute fantasy, but —according to one protester—not nearly as fantastic as depriving a person from everything that makes one human, while hoping he comes out a better person.
More on this: Sunday March 24, 15:00 @ TENT, Rotterdam: Imagining Incarceration. A conversation between cultural theorist Hanneke Stuit, curator Anke Bangma and yours truly.
![Algemeen Dagblad, 28 juni 2025, p15.Haaretz, 27 juni 2025, p1."Israeli soldiers in Gaza told Haaretz that the army has deliberately fired at Palestinians near aid distribution sites over the past month.Conversations with officers and soldiers reveal that commanders ordered troops to shoot at crowds to drive them away or disperse them, even though it was clear they posed no threat.One soldier described the situation as a total breakdown of the Israel Defense Forces' ethical codes in Gaza.According to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza, 549 people have been killed near aid centers and in areas where residents were waiting for UN food trucks since May 27. Over 4,000 have been wounded, but the exact number of those killed or injured by IDF fire remains unclear.- 100,000 dead: What we know about Gaza's true death toll- 'Left to die quietly': Palestinians watch world move on from Gaza after Israel-Iran deal- Families of Israeli hostages urge Netanyahu to channel Iran achievements into Gaza dealHaaretz has learned that the Military Advocate General has instructed the IDF General Staff's Fact-Finding Assessment Mechanism – a body tasked with reviewing incidents involving potential violations of the laws of war – to investigate suspected war crimes at these sites.The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid centers began operating in the Strip at the end of May. The circumstances of the foundation's establishment and its funding are murky: it is known to have been set up by Israel in coordination with U.S. evangelicals and private security contractors. Its current CEO is an evangelical leader close to U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.The GHF operates four food distribution sites – three in southern Gaza and one in the center – known in the IDF as "rapid distribution centers" (Mahpazim). They are staffed by American and Palestinian workers and secured by the IDF from a distance of several hundred meters.Thousands, and at times tens of thousands, of Gazans arrive daily to collect food from these sites.Contrary to the foundation's initial promises, distribution is [...]](https://sp1.picnob.com/p/pt_6714301071242257351855_0_0abf820b3c4716b0e702780245228b3a.jpg?o=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&h=71f24f3a6f24059442e7ab108846c2ef)
