Theme for project

Theme chosen is Surveillance and privacy.

New media in a surveillance society.

*In the UK there are at least 4 million registered CCTV cameras.
*The UK has the densest CCTV coverage of public space.
*There are many ways in which we are being monitored, it is not just the surveillance cameras.
*Number plates, Mobile phones, store cards, satellites, credit cards, electoral roll, NHS patient records, phone tapping, bugs, worker call monitoring and cookies are just some of the other ways we are watched.
*We are becoming if not already a surveillance society.

No matter where you go or what you do just remember you ARE being watched!

Banksy Countryside Surveillance

From this piece of work it seems to give the impression to me as there is no way of escaping the cameras, even in a natural retreat 'they' are watching and invading the peaceful countryside.

Predictive Engineering, (P.E.)", Julia Scher

This piece is almost a public surveillance room, it gives a different perspective in an enclosed space as you are not being filmed you are watching therefore you have the control.

vigilance, centre pompidou, paris, 1992 Julia Scher

As this image is displayed an emotionless almost computerised voice reads " We are recording you to our database now do not leave until the cameras have completely absorbed you!" It is the notion that CCTV takes a part of you away, you are sucked in and being controlled. The cameras record your every move and puts the information into a database. Again the cameras or more to the point who is behind the camera has complete control.

Sophie Calle The hotel room

'The hotel room' is a perfect example of how watching/surveying someone can be taken to extremes, this piece is the ultimate invasion of not only the person but there most personal and intimate space. It gives a glimpse into there soul and personality. This is collective surveillance it is more personal in the sense that 'you' specifically are being monitored.

Sophie Calle Suite Venitienne

This work is along the same lines as the work above by Sophie Calle, it is collective data which infringes on basic human rights for privacy. The person in the image is followed by the artist for a period of time and photographed going about his daily business, she documented everything the person did. This is quite a spooky and unsettling thought, it proves how easily we can be monitored.

Dieter Froese Not a model for big brother's spy-cycle

This is a piece were you are watching and not being watched, it is in an enclosed space but you are watching footage on a loop. Watch to be watched. It is almost a big brother situation.

Julia Scher Always There: Surveillance Bed, 1994

The 'dont worry' on the screens surrounding the bed indicates that even though you are constantly being monitored its giving reassurance that you are safe. That fact that we do not know 'who' is watching and how information can be a dangerous thing when it is personal. It can be used against you creating fear and used as a way of gaining control. The part of the title that says 'Always there' gives the impression we should accept being watched and 'dont worry'.

Banksy: What are you looking at?

Walls are significant as they relate to confinment, it is surveillance in a controlled space. It looks at and records anything and everything putting it into a database. 'What are you looking at' could be seen as a two way question; you are looking at the camera wondering why its watching you and the camera or person behind it may wonder why you are looking into the camera.

Manu Luksch Manifesto

CCTV cameras extract pieces of identity until there is nothing left. The film is set in the future when the world is controlled by surveillance so much that its got to the point where all identity has been extracted into a database leaving people unrecognisable. It takes surveillance to the extreme, where society becomes 'faceless'.

Bruce Nauman surveillance video

In this video you are being watched but you have control of yourself being watched. It is not jus a cctv camera but a monitor too so the viewer is in control of the enclosed space. You can watch yourself being watched. It breaks the cycle, instead of somone watching you you watch yourself.