“Surveillance (Veillance)” by Louis-Philippe Rondeau
Title:
- Surveillance (Veillance)
Artist(s) and People Involved:
Exhibiting Artist(s):
Symposium:
Venue(s):
Artist Statement:
Focus Québec Exhibition. Forum des Images, May 16 – 21
Interactive installation
TV monitor, camera, aluminium, acrylic, electronics, computer
Dimensions : 210 cm x 120 cm x 20 cm
Veillance is an interactive installation that performs a full-size scan of individuals on a large screen. In doing so, it makes an inventory of all the people it has interacted with in a vast mosaic.
Developed by Steve Mann, the concept of veillance is the state of mutual scrutiny that arises between citizens and institutions constantly snooping on each other. In Veillance, while we contemplate the scanned images of other individuals, the installation captures our portrait – and adds it to its archive. However, given the nature of the scanning process, we can evade capture via our gestures – altering our appearance over time – thereby hijacking the scanography process.
