2022
OUR MIND AS A HOST
Video Installation
[Database with 1866 images,
321 sounds of parasites
and surveillance technologies]
750 x 300 cm
Documentation video
New species are entering our world and living at our expense. As parasites, hidden surveillance technologies are preying and feeding on us. When they find a weak spot, their biometric algorithms crawl under our skin without consent. They modify behavior, interpret and maybe even shape one’s being, often without us noticing.
A database of 1866 images and 321 sounds of parasites and surveillance technologies is assembled. Their appearance and behavior is compared, like surveillance algorithms and parasitologists do to analyze their find. In the montage, a mental phenomenon is used, where the viewer creates- from two images, a third image in te brain. Therefore,these images are expected to interact in the mind of the viewer; even though they are in reality unrelated. Visual similarities lead the edit, and ‘‘control’’ the viewer’s eyes over the screen. As unpredictable and elusive parasites and surveillance technologies are, the images appear a-rhythmic, in different sizes and places, which makes it hard to isolate and identify one byitself.
So the work is, as a parasite in the brain, manipulating perception -and can only exist- in our mind as a host.