Become Camera
Site specific performance with analogue security system (4 cameras, 4 monitors, BNC cable)
become camera is a site-responsive, multi-channel video installation and durational performance.
The everyday person is being constantly surveilled whether they like it or not via phones, security cameras, laptops, satellite imaging, etcetera. As a person of color I experience a heightened form of surveillance. I’m not only watched by technology; I’m being watched everywhere I go by those on the streets, in stores, and in restaurants because of a stigma created solely on my appearance.
The durational performance begins with me as a human surveiller loudly sneaking around the gallery trying to watch the audience while simultaneously attempting to hide from them and the surveillance cameras. Over time my actions become slower and slower, gradually taking the attention off of me until I become a stationary camera blending into the walls of the gallery. By the end I’m no longer seen as a brown man on the streets but rather a part of the majority that blends in and stares at others.
Become Camera is an extended meditation from a series I began in 2016 titled, Always Watching Part I: A Conversation with the TSA.
Performance duration has varied from 30 minutes to 8 hours.
Press:
Photo Credit: Sarah Huny Young (photos 1 - 2) for the Become Camera exhibition at PF/PCA curated by Lauren Goshinski.
Alex Young (photos 3 - 6) for the Kitchen Sink at 3577 Studios curated by Angela Washko.