Ctrl[space] - essays about surveillance

By Cory Doctorow at 10:48 am Monday, Aug 7

Over on We Make Money Not Art, Regine reviews a fascinating sounding book called ctrl[space]: Rhetorics of Surveillance from Bentham to Big Brother. It's a collection of essays coming out of an art-show about surveillance. This was the line that got me thinking I'd better read this book: "ctrl[space] : Rhetorics of Surveillance from Bentham to Big Brother is a book i'd recommend to anyone who's interested in surveillance --even if they don't give a damn about art."

As the title suggest, there's plenty of information about the history of the phenomenon of panopticism and its representation in art. Various aspects of surveillance are also decorticated and analysed in a book that counts over 650 pages: surveillance and everyday life, surveillance and pleasure, subversions, punishment, etc. A series of art works illustrate each aspect. The projects mentioned are from artists like Bruce Naumann, Rem Koolhaas, the Bureau of Inverse Technology, Julia Scher, Pierre Huyghe, Jenny Marketou, Diller+Scofidio, Sophie Calle, Marko Peljhan, etc. Of course it's always exciting to see a great collection of big names, but it might make you feel uneasy to read that so many artists have been worried by the escalade of surveillance and social control over the past few years. The sensation becomes even more disturbing when you realize how fast reality can catch up with art. For example, the harmless plush toys and house plants of Danish artists Niels Bonde's was working on as early as 1995 have their equivalent on the market.

Link