While We Are Waiting

The waiting line routines that have become common during COVID19 suggest a transparent experience where the control mechanisms are marked by their visibility and familiarity — we believe we can see how we are being seen. However, these crowd control precautions originate in state security protocols at borders and prisons, underwritten by security cameras, thermal cameras, x-ray machines, scanners and other apparatuses. Some of these apparatuses have been hacked to create an installation that turns visitors into both the observer and the observed, drawing attention to the mechanisms of surveillance that we are becoming oblivious to. Please go through the line in a calmly fashion and kindly keep your distance.

The installation materially engages with the visitor's shadow, transforming them into both the observer and the observed simultaneously.

The screens, visible through the blurry surface while passing through the corridor, maintain a sense of the backstage, while simultaneously conveying a feeling of to be control.

Surveillance cameras are projected onto the blurred surface, adding a layer of surveillance and observation to the space.

surveillance camera

exit signs

Paper stacks are used as weights to stabilize the entire structure, serving as a metaphor for the emotional burden of bureaucracy's paperwork.