Initially, Shai kremer who was part of the exhibition, stood out for me using the beauty of photography yet still utilising surveillance to address societal, political and military issues surrounding the battle for territorial dominance in Israel. In Infected landscape, The beauty of his landscape images enticing you to look and then as the photographer suggests follow up with a rhetorical punch in the face!
Another interesting piece of work is Jonathan Olley (Castles of Ulster) in which British military structures used to maintain control over northern Ireland are photographically preserved before their removal as part of the 1998 good Friday agreement.
Artists using surveillance in this way, interest me for the notion of subject becoming the viewer. At one point these objects were the tools to control and maintain control or one could say, Power. The control and power now becomes in the hands of the viewer.
The distance between subject and viewer seems to be a critical element. The closer we get, the more voyeuristic the experience becomes for photographer and viewer.
Schuman uses the short story from allan Poe. In this, the protagonist explores feelings of being totally absorbed in contemplation over the idea of observation of a gentleman he doesn't know.
The seduction of surveillance can easily lean towards voyeurism: the personal involvement is the critical aspect as Jill Miller explores in her work
From January - March 2007 San Francisco-based artist Jill Miller trained with a licensed private investigator. She worked on real cases, learning various components of the profession, from video surveillance to location stake-outs to note-taking methodology. Miller began this project out of her interest in the ways that the legal system protects (or challenges) an individual's right to privacy. Driven by this curiosity, she learned how to conduct surveillance within the legal limits of the law. Once familiar with the field, Miller executed her own plans for surveillance under the advisement of the private investigator. Only this time, instead of working on randomly assigned cases, Miller turned an eye onto the art world itself, spending 6 months undercover doing surveillance on some of the San Francisco art world's most elusive community: art collectors. Miller estimates she did surveillance on 10 houses, focusing specifically on 5 of them.
Schuman, Aaron. "Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera." Aperture Winter 2010: 14-15. Art Full Text. Web. 14 Feb. 2011.
Riches, Harriet. "THE ART OF SURVEILLANCE." Afterimage Sept.-Oct. 2010: 26+. General OneFile. Web. 14 Feb. 2011.
Howarth, Sophie, Anton Corbijn, Chris Verene, Shizuka Yokomizo, Christian Frei, Sophie Ristelhueber, and Jonathan Olley. "What are you Looking at?." Tate Etc. Summer 2010: 70-81. Art Full Text. Web. 14 Feb. 2011.
http://www.jonathanolley.com/pages/imagegroup.public.intro.php?igId=77
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/exposure/default.shtm
Baqué, Dominique. "Vrai, faux, faux-semblants." Art Press June 2010: 90-1. Art Full Text. Web. 14 Feb. 2011.
Jill Miller
http://www.jillmiller.net/collectors.htm
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