Based on the concept of ‘performance/performativity’ in the Arts on contemporary life, the research paper should interrogate the role and performance of individuals in a world of surveillance. Inspired by Deleuze’s ‘societies of control’ areas to be explore are: ‘surveillance art’ or terms like “sousveillance”, coined by Steve Mann, where individuals counter-acting surveillance by wearing small body cameras or other technological devices.
Possible questions are:
Is ‘Sousveillance’ the future weapon to neutralize the power of information from surveillance bodies (Government/institutions/corporations) on individuals?
What are the possible pros and cons of individuals wearing body cameras in relation to the concepts like private/public?
Case studies:
Artist Hasan Elahi, after being questioned by the FBI at an airport on suspicion of terrorism, the artist began to publish online every step of his life, in a form of digital ‘lifelogging’ through photos, tracking devices and other forms of technologies.
Iraqi American artist Wafaa Bilal’s project called ‘3rdi’, where the artist had a digital camera installed on the back of his head, snapping a picture every minute, 24 hours a day. The project was intended to create a social dialogue about privacy at contemporary times.
Rob Spence, Canadian filmmaker that after losing his eye developed a prosthetic eye with wireless video camera that records his every move. Spence, who calls himself the “eyeborg guy,” became one of a growing number of ‘lifecasters’, but with a bionic eye actually embedded in his body.