Seecum

Tracker ∆

Tracker ∆ considers the cultural and economic value of data through an installation of sculpture and prints. It proposes information as commodity and currency, seeking to draw parallels between data to that of gold. Gold’s desirability remains un-changed cross-culturally and through time, it is precious and brings wealth and power. Could data be considered as the new gold in today’s society?

Metal sculptures in the shape of data lines protrude from the walls, painted in the colours of a bleak shade of neutral white. The walls are filled with vinyl wallpaper, a pattern of repeated golden keyboards and CCTV cameras. Boards of printed fabric printed show natural digital landscapes of pine, sea, sand. Four prints inspired by universally appreciated phenomena such as diamonds, sea, gold, female seductive sculpture hang at the back of the gallery. Participants can enter a competition to win a print by depositing their business cards. The piece seeks to articulate data as a pleasantly natural and unnatural form of exchange which we operate upon on a daily basis.

The piece interrogates the value of exchange, when we use online platforms, what elements of data are we exchanging in order to use their service? How do companies stand to profit from understanding us as their customers, how do we voluntarily feed to the government and corporations? The work seeks to examine the points in which value can accrue and how we as a consumer, can contribute to the market. The work seeks to articulate collective identity, and the possibility of its sale and use on the market.

Sophie och Tobias

Sophie och Tobias is a study of the individual through the prolific stereotype of the Swede. The piece invites one female and male of a similar age, blonde and blue eyed. They are filmed separately performing a list of simple actions including reading texts of banned literature, and to form circles using only their bodies.

The circle is a simple shape that does not tessellate with itself, as it stands on its own it is used in this project to represent the individual. Spotlights switch on and off to mark the age of the participant, the circle is performed through the body and through literature. The simple instructions aim to encourage a subtle analysis upon the similarity and differences of the individual. The footage exists as 25 3-5 minute un-edited clips, filmed through a digital camera.

Where does an individual surface when the structure is monotonous and the action is repetitive. Through performing simple tasks, the piece opens up space and chance for the participant to reveal their individuality. Through observing the choices that they make through their individual performance, can we begin to see the differences which exist between us.

ALPHABET

This installation is comprised of a series of sculptures, letters and writings influenced from the personal profiles of friends on Facebook. The participants were selected unknowingly, their names (A-Z), data such as their jobs, age, sex, location were obtained for presentation.

The data was presented as a series of circles, displaying the profile pictures of each individual, washed in a colour which corresponded to a separate colour code. A clock was fitted onto the front of these circular sculptures, with transferred text stating the individual’s location and specified job on the clock hands. Conversations between myself and the participants were printed and displayed around the gallery, the press release - a commissioned text by the artist David Walker serves as the press release.

Acquiring and presenting this data, was an act to consider the invasiveness of the public and private space. Social media is a platform in which we use to communicate to our friends, we acknowledge that we are on constant display to people who may or may not be our 'friends'. How flexible is our identity when it has to be quantified and specified on a public platform? The work aims to test our levels of comfort and personal flexibilities with our public portraits.