ABOUT
Eyesight’s concept explores the archetype of total surveillance; the architectural form invented in the early 1780 by Samuel Bentham in order to improve discipline…the Panopticon was subsequently elaborated as a versatile instrument of “seeing without being seen”.
The idea of a closed circuit television system
monitored by a handful of functionaries is one way
for our contemporary mind to grasp the idea. The
Eyesight concept aims to visualize the
Panopticon’s aim at a total and centralized
exploration of personal privacy. Since visibility
in a way replaces force as a tool of control, we
ask ourselves what the contemporary definition of
privacy is or may become in the future.
In a world of constant society driven need for
security, surveillance becomes the calming factor
in achieving this inner peace and thus, a familiar
part of our daily life. The installation displays
the omni-present icon of surveillance: the eye in
the sky. As a spectator trying to grasp the pulse
of the surveillance society the installation
visualize the never encountered observer.
WHAT IT IS
EyeSight is an interactive sculpture created to increase the awareness of the lack of privacy modern cityscape offers us. The installation displays the omni-present icon of surveillance: the eye in the sky – represented by a glass-sphere floating in the air. As a spectator trying to grasp “the being” of the surveillance society the installation visualize the never encountered observer.
Why: We believe in the non-dominative future of the surveillance society and it’s privacy threatening tendons. As part of everyday life and no longer a shock to us, surveillance opt to become a new ground for artistic expression in the ever-changing spheres of our everyday life scheme.
The use of surveillance in interactive artwork is no longer provocative as in the past, but rather a social commentary upon today’s moral values and boundaries of the meaning of privacy.
HOW IT WORK
How: We have created EyeSight from several of the Jitter patches using motion tracking, input from web-cam, color control on live images, manipulation of the image output and added delay functions. In order to obtain a more diffuse look, we have experimented with splitting up the web cam input where, one is color manipulated and the other is black/white. After combing the two into one channel it results in a flickering image (an illustration of the bad quality of surveillance camera.)
We haven’t had any major problems in the realization of the project and the visual parts have gone rather smoothly.
Learning outcome: During our Jitter course we have gained a basic understanding of the program and the programming language since none of us had worked with either Max or Jitter before. Since we had to skip our first idea and started rather late on the EyeSight project (compared to the schedule of the lessons) we have managed to finalize the EyeSight mainly through analyzing the different Jitter patches available and further exploration of their possibilities.
Which context the work was created in (e.g. a certain workshop or course, own free experimentation, etc)?
>>>The interactive installation was created in Jitter MAX MSP , in collaboration with the glassblowing department at TAIK (University Of Art and Design Helsinki) and some hands on experimentation with several other applications.
Required space, conditions etc. (e.g. special requirements for lighting, location, screening surfaces etc)?
>>>Preferably a small and claustrophobic location, as dark as possible .The use of black curtains may be utilized. One narrow spot light over viewer, to be able to contrast the movement and therefore trigger upon it. Another possibility is a video-camera with night-shoot on, which reads movement in dark conditions .The screening surface is not needed.A projector would be necessary.