These cameras are made for watching (2020)
IP security camera, monitor, MAX/MSP, speakers
Only viewable through the slated front door window, this interactive, site-specific video installation playfully tackles notions of surveillance, balancing the intricacies of seeing and wanting to be seen. I was thinking about what a difference quarantine makes in how you present yourself to the world--especially when there were very little chances to do so. What changes when there is no one watching, observing, glancing, peeking, looking, surveilling (that you know of) for months on end? I wanted to explore the space between surveilling yourself and surveilling others.
The monitor is hooked up to CCTV (the camera is situated above the door). The feed has a five-second time delay such that when the viewer walks up and peaks through the window, they are first confronted with the same door they are looking through before seeing themselves walk up to the door ('that is what the back of my head looks like?!' was a common refrain from viewers). Depending on how the viewer behaves, they will trigger one of five pre-recorded videos (recorded through the same security camera) and a loud 'knocking' sound to encourage the viewer to peak back through the door.
