How we keep tabs on ourselves and others.
In October of 2019, I noticed the NYPD installed floodlights in my neighborhood. I noticed how the floodlights bled into the windows of neighbors, even as it was nearing bedtime. They had no say in the light and noise pollution of these machines.
I was curious about all the ways that surveillance manifests itself, and the residual effects of it. On a micro-level, I was thinking about how I surveill myself, framing my face in the phone camera and where that information is sent. On a macro-level, I wondered about how “public utilities” such as free WiFi hotspots––like LinkNYC––track and provide demographic data, perhaps leading to the installation of police floodlights.
The essay I read was a meditation on how I surveill and self-edit myself, and I was deeply interested in how that interacts with the frameworks of companies that depend on surveillance economics.
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