Surveillant Architectures

SA VIRTUAL Group: 2nd streaming

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FORMATOLOGY

surveillance and self-surveillance are belonging to the actual setup of understanding and acting public space, intimacy and (tele-)communication, not only between individuals, but also between situations and “formats” of/for space.

The figurative idea of Surveillant Architectures coined by artist Julia Scher, is (maybe?) not just referring to the imperative that,
if you want to “understand” – explore, discuss, maybe practice – surveillance, then you have to “think on” or to “argue with” architecture/s,
but much more that there is a kind of (post historic?) perspective on the issues of public space, intimacy, questioning the privatization of spaces, the publicity of privacy, the defensible attitude of semi-public spaces, the generalized practice of “doing” public opinion – making opinions and preferences public -:
all this could be asked to declare itself as surveillance-related, in a surveillant perspective.

VIRTUAL_GROUP is inviting you to participate in the upcoming broadcast

TUE NOV 30th at 18 CET (17UTC)
WED DEC 1st at 11 CET (10 UTC)

http://www.livestream.com/virtual_group

Professor to implant camera in the back of his head

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Professor Wafaa Bilal, who works at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts’ photography and imaging department, is causing a stir because of his artistic experiment raises privacy concerns.Bilal, who has a countdown on his website for the project – dubbed 3rdI – will have images from the camera broadcast live from the back of his head to an exhibit in a museum in Qatar scheduled to open in December.

3rdi.me

The camera, which will be the size of a thumbnail, will be attached using a method similar to piercing, according to The Wall Street Journal, which spoke to Bilal’s colleagues familiar with the project.
Bilal will have the camera in his head for a year, and it will take pictures in one-minute intervals.

What will museum visitors see? Well, that depends on Bilal’s travels, which is where the controversy comes in. Questions have been raised as to whether he will have the camera on while he teaches at NYU and whether students’ privacy may be invaded. NYU is looking into the issue.

“As a school of the arts, a school whose mission is to educate artists, we place a high value on his right to free expression in his creative work as an artist, and take that principle very seriously,” NYU Spokesman John Beckman said in a statement. “But as a school of the arts, we also take seriously the privacy issues his project raises, its impact on our students and the importance of preserving trust in the pedagogical relationship between a faculty member and students.

“There have been numerous conversations since Professor Bilal informed us of his project as we sought to find the right balance; we think they have been constructive and productive. We continue to discuss with him the right mechanism to ensure that his camera will not take pictures in NYU buildings.”

This isn’t the first time the Iraqi artist’s experiments have caught people’s attention.

His work “Domestic Tension,” where he stood in front of a paintball gun and allowed people to shoot him over the Internet 24/7, caused widespread buzz online.

His controversial video game piece, “Virtual Jihadi,” ended with a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union. Bilal hacked a video game and put an avatar of himself in the game and then appeared as a suicide-bomber hunting Former President George W. Bush.

source: CNN online

Surveillance, Performance and New Media Art

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Vol 7, No 2 (2010)
Surveillance, Performance and New Media Art

The relationship between the visual arts and surveillance has been explored through large scale exhibitions (CTRL:Space, ZKM), and texts such as Loving Big Brother (McGrath, 2004) have introduced questions of performance and performativity into the surveillance debate. However, as the technological possibilities available to artists grow, and the social impact of surveillance is increasingly recognized, there is a need for a thorough examination of the uses of surveillance in the visual arts, particularly in the genres of new media and performance art, where issues regarding technological engagement and embodiment come to the fore. This special issue of Surveillance & Society presents papers and works that examine the complexities of surveillance in new media and performance art.

http://surveillance-and-society.org/ojs/index.php/journal/issue/view/Performance/showToc

From The NY Times: In Bid to Sway Sales, Cameras Track Shoppers

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Paco Underhill is the founder of Envirosell, a trailblazer in observational research.

Because of sensitivities surrounding privacy, some retailers are reluctant to discuss surveillance technology. And exactly how many cameras are tracking shoppers is not known, partly because cameras are installed and uninstalled during various studies. (The videotape is for internal use only).

But industry professionals said interest in analyzing shoppers was growing. Video analysis companies said nearly every major chain was or had been a client, including giants like Wal-Mart Stores and Best Buy Company Incorporated”.

more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/20/business/20surveillance.html

Collateral Murder

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Overview

5th April 2010 10:44 EST WikiLeaks has released a classified US military video depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad — including two Reuters news staff.

Reuters has been trying to obtain the video through the Freedom of Information Act, without success since the time of the attack. The video, shot from an Apache helicopter gun-site, clearly shows the unprovoked slaying of a wounded Reuters employee and his rescuers. Two young children involved in the rescue were also seriously wounded.

http://www.collateralmurder.com/