Surveillance
The Surveillance collection is a haunting visual meditation on the erosion of privacy and the systematic commodification of the human experience within the modern panopticon. Through a surrealist lens, it maps the pervasive architecture of mass monitoring, ranging from the invisible data-harvesting webs of corporate and state agencies to the militarized, indiscriminate gaze of “eyes” that have replaced tanks and brains alike. The pieces explore a dystopian shift where reason is bypassed in favor of pre-packaged realities, and individuals are reduced to serialized data points for secret agendas.
Eyes of the State
A nationwide surveillance architecture is comprised of various types of companies, according to Privacy International. These include but are not limited to Internet Service Providers (ISPs), telecom equipment vendors who manufacture switches, routers and other lawful interception capabilities and other contractors. Analysis, Audio and Video Surveillance, Phone Monitoring, Location Monitoring, Internet Monitoring, Monitoring Center, Intrusion, Biometrics, Counter-Surveillance, Mobile Transport Equipment, Forensics. Animation inspired by the photo “Tank Man” by Jeff Widener of the Associated Press (1989)
Eyes Over Brains
I can't remember the last time we sat together and watched the world through the lens of reason and critique, said the left hemisphere to the right. No reply was heard; however, the last of what had remained in the circuitry flicked a couple of switches and deducted that the world is pre-analyzed and fed to the eye, ready to be filed and absorbed. Then a sound was heard echoing what seemed to be the beginning of a world that eyes dominate brains and information is pre-packaged and fed to serialize and synchronize living thoughts.
Her Last Eye
She made her last offering to the architects of the new world. More colorful and more perfect than the world she was living in, were her vivid imagination and sophisticated dreams. She thought broadcasting her imagined world would soon gather many eyes tuning into her. She made this sacrifice to project grander and nobler images out to the world hoping to save a few souls that have not been completely highjacked already. She is going to save us with decoupling us from what is known as truth to the endless unknown that could be explored.
Privacy Invasion Agency
The details of our public and personal lives are being picked up by all kinds of data gathering agencies, some belonging to the governments and others from the private business sector. They have commoditized our lives and as a result commoditized us for their own secret agenda. There are very few places left at which we can be sure that we are not being watched or listened to. According to Amnesty International, “I’ve got nothing to hide“ is the wrong response to mass surveillance. More people need to be educated on how to protect and demand their privacy. Businesses and government agencies should revise these practices and be held accountable to the people they so claim to serve. Animation inspired by the painting “The Son of Man” by René Magritte (1964)
Revolving Eyes
She is beginning to develop a sense of vision beyond the limits of her eyes. A vision that was awakened through pain and sorrow. Now she must fight back and shine her inner strength outwards, giving off true light to other eyes seeking that which is buried deep inside every one of us. The power to personalize inner experience over external circumstance, that which is the ultimate freedom!
Mass Surveillance
According to Privacy International, “Mass surveillance uses systems or technologies that collect, analyze, and/or generate data on indefinite or large numbers of people instead of limiting surveillance to individuals about which there is reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing. Under currently available forms of mass surveillance, governments can capture virtually all aspects of our lives.” People from all walks of life are subjected to a diverse and increasing range of surveillance. Privacy International names a few methods such as mass interception of communications, access to bulk communications stored by telecom operators, mass hacking, indiscriminate use of facial recognition technology, indiscriminate surveillance of protests using mobile phone trackers and more. Animation inspired by the painting “Golconda” by René Magritte (1953)