25 April 2008
I have arrived in London, the most populous municipality in the European Union, with a population of over 7,000,000 people. First thing I notice, the announcements from the tube: if I see anything suspicious I am to call a free number. Still at the tube, announcements all over.
The things that stay in my mind: crime, vigilance required from the people of London, assaults. After that, the terror spiral just gets worst, as I begin walking through the city.
There are cameras all over, written announcements warning the passers by they are constantly under surveillance, notices about the pressure crime exercises on the city, about the necessary measures that must be taken by each inhabitant, about the responsibility one must assume, about the interdictions. I feel like living in the most dangerous place on earth, but I’m sure that's far from true.
I start to wonder about the reality of this presumed danger, about the necessity of these virulent reactions.
The idea of Foucault's Panopticon (the place from where everything can be seen) as a model to gaining power in a 'disciplinary society' crosses my mind. The individual does not know when and if is under surveillance, but he has to presume at all times that he is. A powerful determinant.
I begin to think of an experiment, about becoming the paranoid-vigilant citizen I am urged to be, about being both in front and behind the cameras.
http://elena-ciobanu.blogspot.com/2008/05/signs.html27 April 2009
After several days of walking throughout the city and collecting several images with signs and announcements, I have encountered a very particular one. It is the first that is so directly honest in its message.
The perfect illustration of my thoughts, clarifies the form of this project. The next day, I will stand for half an hour behind my hotel window. My positioning will be discrete, but I am still to be a visible presence.
During this timeframe, I will take pictures of as many people as I can while they are crossing through the opposite street corner. There are several cameras right in front of my balcony, so one could say they already know they are being watched.
When I will return home I will make some further research on this issue. I am curious about the mechanisms that led to this approach to become common practice and be tolerated in a country that presumably protects the rights of its inhabitants. I am also thinking of attaching to the images I will be collecting as a 'living surveillance camera' my personal reactions during the project, the opinions of the people living here about this condition (I am sure some public debate exists on the matter), as well as officials' declarations about the 'necessity' of CCTV (Closed-circuit television system). Like in a mirror game.
Images from the project can be seen here:
http://elena-ciobanu.blogspot.com/2008/05/surveillance.html
