Mbi këqyrja / Over watching – Surveillance, 1984, FILOART
“The one who favors security above freedom, is rightly a slave” Aristotle (384 – 322 BCE)
“Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety” Benjamin Franklin (1706 – 1790)
“The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it “ George Orwell (1903 – 1950)
1984
A black and white bleak abstract work. Perceptible basic forms: a circle, an ellipse, a triangle, a rectangle. By prolonged observa- tion, some symbols become recognizable.
Citations that could have an ideological and a religious origin build the forefront: an eye, a sickle, a star. Two mirrored sickles create the shape of a huge moving eye. The grey-white star throws a strong black shadow on the strictly ironed white (surrender) flag behind it. The entire scene is played out in a completely empty surrounding.
In so-called socialist systems: the observation of the citizens was part of the daily program. Citizens blew whistles on other citizens. In particular, the surveillance and control of people working in culture, (a dangerous profession) were specially observed.
2019
Today, human help is no longer needed for surveillance. Everyone knows that in these times of mass surveillance each mobile phone, computer, smart watch, satellite TV, can be located, observed, registered and all this data is saved as part of Big Data