Context behind iSee
April 15, 2008IAA attempt to ‘beg, pester and re-configure a culture of surveillance in a manner that is ironic, funny and sometimes cute, but also activist and critical to the core’ (IAA, 2002).
A study carried out by the leading user of surveillance devices found that there was a tendency to focus and single out particular individuals. ‘Black people were between one-and-a-half and two-and-a-half times more likely to be surveilled than one would expect from their presence in the population’ (www.appliedautonomy.com, 2002).
Minorities, women, youths, outsiders and activists all could be said to have a good reason to stay out of sight and take the path with least surveillance.
Eg. ‘Hooded tops, baseball caps and swearing have been outlawed at Bluewater shopping centre in Kent as part of a crackdown on anti-social behaviour’ (news.bbc.co.uk, May 2005).
