Statement of Intent:
For the exhibition Surveilling Public Space: Perspectives on Spectacle I propose a mixedmedia installation titled Blue Light Special that engages with questions of social control and social paranoia, and the psychological and physiological effects of architecture and urban space.
A previous version of this project was informed by researching colour psychology and physiology, as well as methods of control and surveillance in urban space. While earlier attempts of surveillance, such as in Chicago or Baltimore, included surveillance cameras equipped with flashing blue lights (connoting the police), such more visible attempts of surveillance are increasingly replaced by more hidden methods, such as cameras resembling street lights. CCTV surveillance systems raise questions around privacy and the erosion of human right, and also reinforce the relevance of viewing society as a panoptic machine.
While informed by the broader tendencies of increased public surveillance, especially in the pre-Olympic Vancouver, my proposed work engages with questions of surveillance and spectacle in more subtle ways that accentuate the perpetuation of surveillance into all public spaces, including public universities. The campuses of SFU and UBC are increasingly equipped with surveillance cameras, while these places also have a network of emergency phone booths. SFU, following a snowstorm last year in which many students were forced to stay on campus for a night, has been expanding its security and emergency procedures, which now include a plan to equip the aforementioned blue emergency phones with speakers that will distribute information and instructions to the public in case of emergency. While these objects obviously have important functions, they also fit into the increasing paranoia in contemporary society.
My proposed work, Blue Light Special, consists of a 1:1 cardboard replica of one of the emergency phones of the SFU campus, topped with a surveillance camera. I regard it formally parallel with the central tower of Jeremy Bentham’s circular shaped panopticon prison, from which the constant observation of the illuminated cells is possible. The work is equipped with a 500W light bulb that emits a cold, dazzling light that causes a sense of discomfort yet attracts the viewer’s gaze. Thus, Blue Light Special simultaneously functions as a reference to tools of surveillance and control, and becomes a subject of spectacle. At the same time, through its raw quality and non-functionality, the work carries the potential to open up a space for questioning not only the legitimacy, but also the effectiveness and omnipresence of public surveillance.
Artist Bio:
I was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1987 and grew up in Érd, a nearby city. Since 2007 I have been attending Simon Fraser University, where I am completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in visual art with concentrations in geography and urban studies. In the past semesters, through photographic works and mixed-media sculptural installations based on interdisciplinary research I have been exploring questions pertaining to architectural and social space, urban issues, social control, and the mapping of physical and subjective space.
Supporting Illustrations:
Dimensions: approx. 30x30x250 cm (1’x1’x8.2’)
Materials: cardboard, light fixture
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