Faculty of Design

Graphic Design

Stacey Arkhipova

Caught in the Act

video, audio, LCD screen, iPhone

“Living in a time where our phones are rapidly eliminating the need for CCTV surveillance cameras, we automatically take on a role of surveillants and thus simultaneously consent to being surveilled. The idea that we constantly face the possibility of being recorded undoubtedly alters our behaviour in public and private spheres. Video recording is but a small portion of the way surveillance manifests itself today. For example, Twitter is a hot spot for controversial statements and 'leaked' private material. Being able to download Twitter phone app allows for easy access to a platform where one poorly worded or insensitive sentence can get one fired from a job or invite in death threats from folks all over the world. In December 2013, a woman named Justine Sacco tweeted before getting on a plane: "Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get Aids. Just kidding. I’m white!" Her extremely poorly worded joke was meant to mock her own bubble of privilege but instead she woke up to being the number one trending villain upon her landing. She got fired from her job immediately and received countless death threats. Jon Ronson — who wrote about this incident in his book So You've Been Publicly Shamed — was also called racist and was accused of silencing marginalized voices by speaking out against online shaming and cancel culture. Justine Sacco's tweet was in absolutely poor taste but was it worth everything that came her way? We all have said something we regret. If it happens in our circle of friends, we apologize and hope that those who know us well will give us the benefit of the doubt, and let an accidentally offensive comment slide. However, when facing strangers there isn't any context for one to decide whether a statement or a joke made in poor taste is a common occurrence or not. The way information travels and filters through many lenses online, people aren't likely to be sympathetic towards someone who made one poor decision because there is no personal connection to a stranger on the internet.This brings me back to the limiting and unjust nature of using surveillance to judge an individual and their actions exclusively by the captured image. For one, a captured digital image is literally just pixels. But without being conceptual, surveillance footage taken out of context (which is likely to happen on the internet) poses a great risk, especially to those who are systemically oppressed. In this exploration I present a smashed screen and a phone with running footage of the screen being smashed. The video footage doesn't have a linear narrative and the viewer is free to make their own assumptions about the circumstances under which the performer is destroying this screen — kind of how we do when we are presented with a video online. The smashed screen presented as a sculptural object in a gallery setting symbolizes causation while the phone screen displays the action. It is also a reminder that we are living in a state of constant surveillance and that it's safe to assume we are being watched at all times and potentially during our most critical moments. ”