We live in a surveillance world that is turning power to observe into the power to control. Profit is made from predicting our behavior. But what’s even more profitable is when those predictions can control our behavior, our clicks, our views, our purchases, and so on. We are also active participants in surveillance culture; it has trained us to live under a constant gaze, and nowhere is this more prominent than on social media. When in a coffee shop, our fingers twitch to pull out our phones and capture the foam on our latte. Capturing our life has become a way to actualize it. Do we exist if we aren’t being seen? We want to perform for this gaze—make sure it likes what it sees. The pressure to be seen by social media followers as a curated being leads to a never-ending performance, even when no one is around. Are we ever alone? And when we are alone, are we romanticizing our life or performing for an invisible consumer?
We are not the consumers; we are the product. Current tech literature warns how Big Tech is watching us, ascribing agency to some vague, distant, and powerful entity. But this sounds far too dystopian to be true of our current reality. Even if we know we’re being watched, we become complacent, ignorant, hopeless. This art is meant to illustrate that we have internalized surveillance. It is not only something happening to us, but also what we do to ourselves. You are becoming your own surveillor and in doing so, priming yourself for reward systems and behavioral manipulation tactics that shape you into the perfect product. You are being ripped away from your authentic self and being reduced into a data point. A return to the Self begins with awareness of your own watchfulness.
This piece is composed of surveillance videos. Each video transitions from seemingly aesthetic scenes of me living my life into invasive surveillance by an unknown Eye. The eye is also meant to resemble a red dot, signaling that a camera is recording. This transition is intentionally produced through cinematographic techniques and atmospheric sound. The scenes begin with gentle music and pleasant shots. Close-ups of me playing with my ring or nervously shaking my leg are there to convey anxiety. Anxiety that comes from being watched and from wanting to be a desired curation. Slowly, the shots become more invasive, close-up, and eerie. What was once aesthetic is now too close and too loud. The music slowly transitions into a dark or cacophonous sound. In three of the scenes, I am in the presence of a technological gadget, be it a laptop, smartphone, or tablet. In the last scene, I am immersed in nature, with no technology to be found. Yet the Eye is still present. The gaze still exists.
While watching these videos, some may question “Who is the Eye?” The home screen of the website shows someone watching the surveillance monitor, presumably the person associated with the Eye. When you tap their shoulder, it is revealed that the surveillor is, in fact, me.
Music Sources:
Horror Music World. “Tom Ratesic - Fear | Creepy Build Up Horror Orchestral Music.” YouTube, 3 Aug. 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sn9yhhZglyc
H.Takahashi - Topic. “Warp.” YouTube, 13 Aug. 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpbHBu6Z29A
METAROOM. “METAROOM - .ANGEL.” YouTube, 26 Nov. 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYamdgkT1r4
Nala Sinephro. “Space 3.” YouTube, 16 Aug. 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us1MY9-imyI
Nervmusic. “CHASMA - M13 (video by Polyanov Konstantin and Kaznacheev Denis).” YouTube, 23 Dec. 2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Itjv2-ziL7A&list=LL&index=1
The Kyoto Connection. “Japanese Ambient Music - "Inoue" (井上).” YouTube, 7 Sep. 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cqc21r-hacE
Where To Now? Records. “H.Takahashi 'Wurzel'.” YouTube, 9 Oct. 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ih6NhumKY1M
venn. “transparent.” YouTube, 15 Sep. 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1xoedrYwGI