Landscape Surveillance
Landscape Surveillance series
Made for re:publica 2018
Surveillance cameras track our movements through cities. They watch and group our faces and interactions on the streets, in metro stations, and at traffic lights. Inside, security cameras record our time in cafes, restaurants, stores, and offices.
Surveillance cameras don’t only watch people but also seemingly empty landscapes. They record vistas of forests, lakes, and mountains. They stream panoramas of beaches in Brasil, ski resorts in Austria, and small roads through distant hills in Iceland.
Many surveillance cameras are connected to the Internet but have weak security. IP cameras still using default usernames and passwords like admin/12345 inadvertently subvert any intention of security and privacy. The video feeds are gathered and streamed on webcam and insecure camera sites for anyone with Internet access to see.
The works in this series are made from some of these exposed surveillance video feeds.