Interactive video installation, 2012, Dimension variable, silent.
Interactive video installation using a computer, software large monitors and a Kinect sensor: Two large monitors display an eye. As the viewer walks past the monitor, the eyes follow their motion. The screens “watch” the viewer, and track their motions. In an adjacent area, a video loop plays of an extreme close up of an eye that blinks in slow motion. This aspect of the installation emphasizes the human element of surveillance—a blink—that implies an inherent failure compared to machine surveillance. The title comes from a 1967 Richard Brautigan poem, and suggests a loving, caring gaze that watches over humanity, as opposed to the current state of surveillance that is concerned with property crime and consumerism.
By Donna Szoke and Ricarda McDonald
Exhibitions:
Centre 3, Hamilton, ON, Sept 6 to Oct 19, 2013.
"Cyber Insecurities" WPA / Pepco Edison Place Gallery, 720 8th, Washington, D.C. Aug 30 to Sept 27, 2013.
European Media Art Festival, Osnabrück, Germany, April 24 – May 26, 2013
Nuit Blanche / Art Souterrain, Montreal, March 2-17, 2013.
CRAM International, St. Catharines ON, April 27 to May 22, 2012.
Plug In ICA, Winnipeg MB, January 27 to March 25, 2012.
Publications:
2018 Image contribution, cover: “and all watched over by machines of loving grace.” Arena: A Magazine of Critical Thinking and Ideas for Change, 153 (04/05 2018). Deakin U, Melbourne, Aus.
2017 Image contribution & review: “and all watched over by machines of loving grace.” In Lisa Moren. Algorithmic Pollution: Artists Working with Dataveillance and Societies of Control. NMC Media-N: Journal of the New Media Caucus. Fall 2017. ISSN 1942-017X
2013 “and all watched over by machines of loving grace.” European Media Art Festival, 2013. Eds. Alfred Rotert, Hermann Nöring, Ralf Sausmikat. (Osnabrück; European Media Art Festival, 2013).
Reviews:
Winnipeg Free Press, by Alison Gilmor:
winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/columnists/watching-you-watching-me-140406383.html
Globe & Mail, by RM Vaughn:
theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/rm-vaughan/let-me-introduce-you-to-suzy-lake-national-treasure/article2415934/print/
SEE ALSO: International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance
We would like to acknowledge funding support from the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario.
arts.on.ca/site4.aspx
See earlier version (2004): vimeo.com/26064768
