FISHBOWL

Fishbowl playfully explores the complicated politics of surveillance in our culture. The title of the piece, Fishbowl, refers to the focal object, a glass tank that houses an aquatic pet, as well as the second meaning of the word: a place or condition of high public visibility and little or no personal privacy.

In Fishbowl, the goldfish controls the feed from the four submersible spy cameras. A fifth camera hidden beneath the tank tracks the fish’s precise position. The computer then locates the camera nearest to the fish’s position and turns on the feed for that camera only.

Displayed in quad format, the video and archived videotapes display the fish’s perspective on the gallery. The main aim of the installation is to raise questions about the rapid proliferation of camera surveillance in our daily lives as well as questions relating to what sorts of bodies monitor community spaces.