Boris Daems
You (are) followed : interactive video installation, isadora patch, 2023
A hidden camera and a black screen are placed in a room. When a person passes the camera they see themselves appearing in a red frame within the black screen. The frame is accompanied by a text which suggests that the person is being watched. These suggestions are both about being watched on the moment by the camera and about being watched at their digital footprint.
By unexpectedly confronting the spectator with being watched by someone, an uncanny feeling is evoked. This contrasts with a social media culture where everything is about watching and being watched. On social media platforms being watched is a positive thing because the content creator can fully control what they show. While in our daily lifes being watched can quickly become frightening because of the lack of this control.
By putting these two ways of being watched together, the work questions our perception of privacy. In which situations do we like being watched and in which does it make us feel uncomfortable? How do we handle the ever growing creation and consumption of images and where do we place ourselves and our own image into this phenomenon?
The video installation is patched in Isadora. The camera captures movements by watching differences. Only the area where this movement takes place is projected on the screen within a red frame. When there is no more movement the frame disappears after 1,5 seconds. Every time a new movement occurs a random text from a list is displayed above the red frame.
