Narrative (Authoring Narratives)

FEBRUARY

───────A Nation under Surveillance───────

Due to the surveillance phenomenon (mostly in London, based from personal experience) and a global trend of being spied and searched upon (a constant "need" for "higher authorities" - no matter who they might be - to intercept, identify and scan each and every citizen), I've been looking for a way to bring this topic into discussion and aimed at raising awareness of the fact that - simply put - we are giving in to a society that gradually adopts, with an increasing speed, a culture ruled by 'Big Brother'...

'Everything is recorded' London Underground, 15/02/2018

Walking down the underground tunnels of London, I was constantly reminded that the eyes are on me and everyone surrounding me - our moves are recorded, there's no escape - and then I have remembered the concept of the Panopticon that I've been made aware of during a class tutorial.
Basic incipient research on Wikipedia revealed the main idea behind it - 'Jeremy Bentham proposed the panopticon as a circular building with an observation tower in the centre of an open space surrounded by an outer wall. This wall would contain cells for occupants. This design would increase security by facilitating more effective surveillance. Residing within cells flooded with light, occupants would be readily distinguishable and visible to an official invisibly positioned in the central tower. Conversely, occupants would be invisible to each other, with concrete walls dividing their cells. Due to the bright lighting emitted from the watch tower, occupants would not be able to tell if and when they are being watched, making discipline a passive rather than an active action. Strangely, the cell-mates act in matters as if they are being watched, though they cannot be certain eyes are actually on them. There is a type of invisible discipline that reigns through the prison, for each prisoner self-regulates, in fear that someone is watching their every move. Although usually associated with prisons, the panoptic style of architecture might be used in other institutions with surveillance needs, such as schools, factories, or hospitals.' - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticism

My interests revolve around audio-video installations, projection mapping, motion graphics and mid to large scale projects, sometimes even interactive with some degree of performances that create a whole.

Within the school context I could explore this topic and, out of personal reasons, I wanted to play with video mapping as it is a technique that serves both as a tool for one to express stories and ideas, but also contributes to the process of narrative creation that personally amazes me.

'Perspective Lyrique' - An interactive architectural mapping, 2010

As I've written in a description e-mail, 'My idea is to have a physical structure of cubes that will be mapped and on which I will project different short video-clips of content that will be relevant to this exhibition. It will be comprised of some online CCTV footage I can access and use and most clips will be edited and transformed to deliver the story. I have attached a picture of a structure made of cubes which is very good, because this is exactly how I want my structure to be (see cubes attached). The content will be made using Adobe Premiere and After-Effects, Cinema4D and Resolume Arena for video-mapping. All visible faces of the cubes will be mapped, as shown in the picture attached (mapped_cubes).'

cubes

Because this would become a school project, I would team up with Isaac for the teamwork practices collaborative side of the project.
Isaac came up with the 'Mirror Mirror' concept and he also came up with the solution for my "abstract" idea of having a wall filled up with eyes or a huge eye in the centre of the room that would follow the people inside the space, and so The Eye came to "life" too
Isaa

mapped_cubes

installation_room - firsts ideas and brainstorm

Isaac has managed to put up a very nice website that explains our ideas merged into one installation: https://nationsurveillance.wixsite.com/surveillance/blank-page

MARCH

During this period, I have dedicated my time to record CCTV footage from everywhere online - from websites such as trafficdelays, skyline webcams, webcam hooper , camvista, insecam, even a funny interactive one from someone's garden that when you clicked the "bubbles" button, it would trigger a bubble machine installed beneath the webcam and you could spot live bubbles - the weird thing is that I haven't seen bubbles triggered just by me...other people were watching as well!

Garden Bubble Cam

Snapshots from webcams recorded over a two months period + research into narrative

a_busy_street

at_the_bar_everybody

at_the_bar_ended_up_by_myself

art_street

a_boring_street

dinner_party_now_we_dance (9.11pm)

dinner_party_now_we_eat (9.17pm)

madrid_art

light_in_the_night

glitched

ghost_in_the_street

security_busy_at_work

spider_art

the_norden_star_show

toan_in_the_office

FIRST EXPERIMENTATIONS

First cube mapped

APRIL

RESEARCH

I believe that the tendencies or hidden intentions behind video surveillance are not, unfortunately, about preventing crime, as our government wants us to believe - but rather this is just a(nother) tool of mass surveillance and control. (bluntly put, with a tint of paranoia) George Orwell says it in his novel 1984, followed by others, including Bill Brown from SCP.

A subjective view on surveillance; Excerpt by Kevin Macnish, University of Leeds, on surveillance ethics - http://www.iep.utm.edu/surv-eth/ - Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Idem

Article on National Geographic website on surveillance - https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/02/surveillance-watching-you/

Article on The Guardian website on surveillance

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/06/tony-porter-surveillance-commissioner-risk-cctv-public-transparent

Article on The Guardian website on surveillance

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/06/tony-porter-surveillance-commissioner-risk-cctv-public-transparent

On mass surveillance, https://rightsinfo.org/explainer-mass-surveillance-human-rights/

https://rightsinfo.org/explainer-mass-surveillance-human-rights/

Snowden: A Manifesto For The Truth, http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article36733.htm

MARCH + APRIL

EMERGENT NARRATIVE

While researching on the ethics and morality of video surveillance, I have come across a group formed in NYC in 1996 called Surveillance Camera Players (SCP) which is a group of anti-surveillance activists led by Bill Brown who used to take people on tours showing them were the surveillance cameras are across the city. They were opposing surveillance cameras by performing in front of CCTVs until the police came or security would stop them.

Almost all my research about them was made via their website - http://www.notbored.org/the-scp.html - were they documented who they are, what they do, even books that discuss about their activity and video&audio resources.

It is thru them that I've come across the information that despite having many surveillance cameras installed and running in the World Trade Center during the tragic day of 11 Sept. 2001, they have obviously and unfortunately failed to "prevent the crime" from happening - which also made a good argument against video surveillance.

“Nothing Has Changed; Therefore Everything Must Change”, http://www.notbored.org/change.html

Idem, http://www.notbored.org/change.html

After researching their website (SCP), I have decided to map their performances onto the cubes, instead of displaying edited CCTV footage. The reason behind this decision is due to the fact that I thought that their silent performances in front of CCTV are much stronger as a message in relation to what I wanted to say via this installation. They did managed to point out, on huge printed boards, the ethic side of surveillance and give some heads-up on what was going on.

Why are there surveillance cameras at the church?

1984

Big Brother is Watching You

SCP

We Watch You Watch/ We'll Be Right Back

Who Watches the Watchers?

SCP

Getting something to eat

The End

Daddy Says the Cameras are God's Eyes

Now I Pray To the Cameras

Headline News

I Have Amnesia

I Love Big Brother

It's OK Officer

Maybe You Can Help

SCP

Going Shopping

All Day, Everywhere I Go

Who Am I? What's My Name?

You Are Watching Me

After downloading the movies they have provided on their website, I have contacted SCP to let them know that I was using their footage for this installation. Bill Brown responded, saying that he is happy with that.