ILSE
KIND 

Surveillance systems track how we move and express, while moulding us into simplified, predefined forms. These systems prioritize basic emotional states, fueling emotions like happiness. Treated as malleable data containers; BLOBs (Binary Large Objects), we are reduced to the data we produce or lack. Simplified to analyzable shapes, we are left with only the most basic expressive features. 

In this installation, the clay sculpture embodies this condition. Shaped in a predefined "happy" pose to satisfy the pose recognition system, its survival depends on water. A feedback mechanism irrigates only when its form aligns with the algorithm's expectations. Yet, this act of validation meant to preserve, gradually strips it of its identity. Too much water risks dissolution, softening the figure, while too little causes it to dry out and crumbles away, returning back to soil. Here, the act of being seen becomes both a lifeline and a form of erasure, caught between becoming and being in systems that prize visibility over human complexity.  



Teaser