Electronic mini-city comments on the dangers of surveillance
Nervous about the rise of a surveillance culture, where both companies and governments seem hell-bent on knowing everything they possibly can about you? So is British artist Stanza, who found a clever way of expressing that anxiety about always-watching electronics. His Nemesis Machine project connects a legion of climate and motion sensors in London to a miniature electronic city in Bruges. If the temperature climbs in Britain, for instance, a corresponding mini-building lights up in Belgium. There are even cameras that turn footage of viewers into tiny, Blade Runner-style video walls. The artwork both recreates the frenzied activity of a city and throws modern society's constant monitoring back in your face -- you know what those beeps, buzzes and flashes really mean.
If you want to see the exhibit in person, you'll have to act fast. It's only at the Arentshuis Bruges Museum until May 10th, and there's no mention of bringing it elsewhere at the moment. Whether or not you can make it, this circuit-based urban landscape should get you thinking about whether or not you're comfortable with the volume of information you share.
