A Dance of Agency (in Times of Flight)

About

 ...on the other side of the glass, I come back toward myself; I begin again to direct my eyes toward myself and to reconstitute myself there where I am.

- Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias, Michel Foucault, 1967

Time of flight (ToF) is a measurement of the time taken by an object, particle or wave to travel a distance through a medium. ToF cameras and other infrared sensors are increasingly common additions to smartphones, generating 3D images used for facial recognition, enhancing photos, and face filters, while having other applications in gaming, surveillance, object classification, and automotive contexts.

We put tape over cameras on our devices to protect our privacy, but the thresholds at which we are watched are not always obvious. The optical mouse, and by extension trackpads and touchscreens, can also be thought of as smart cameras, where nuanced physical actions are quantifiable, and inevitably exposed to surveillance capitalism.

This IRL + URL installation deconstructs some of these mixed zones, in formats that can be interacted with in real time. By engaging in a dance of agency (Pickering, 1995), with non-human objects, artworks, surveillance tools and the associated computable metadata, we open ourselves to possibilities that inevitably ricochet back, at various intervals of time, to where we reconstitute ourselves. Moments of productive play for critical digital learning around themes of origin, autonomy and self-identity.

We will be following government COVID-19 safety guidelines. Please bring a face mask to this event. Hand sanitiser will be provided.

Private View Thu 10th June 6-9pm | drop in, no need to pre-book

Open by appointment 11-13th of June 2021 | please book a time slot on Eventbrite