(In)Security Camera (2003)

Silvia Ruzanka, Ben Chang, Dmitry Strakovsky

The (In)Security Camera is a robotic surveillance camera with advanced computer-vision software that can track, zoom, and follow subjects walking through its field of view. Deploying sophisticated artificial intelligence algorithms in use today by the U.S. military and Homeland Security forces, it can assess threat levels in real time and respond accordingly.

However, the camera is, in fact, a little insecure. Easily startled by sudden movements, it is shy around strangers and tends to avoid direct eye contact. This reversal of the relationship between the surveillance system and its subjects gives the machine an element of human personality and fallibility that is by turns endearing, tragic, and slightly disturbing.