Title: Knowledge is Power

Date: 2018

Medium: Interactive installation, projection, infrared camera, kinect, speakers

Description:

This immersive interactive audio/video installation utilizes a Kinect 360 sensor to track the movement of the viewers in a dark room. In its resting state the piece projects obfuscated words moving slowly on the opposite wall from the entrance. The text source is an extract from Wikileaks’ Spy Files regarding the Russian government’s efforts to emulate America’s systemic mass espionage on their citizens. A few keywords are highlighted and temporarily glitch and become legible. As the viewers approach the wall their silhouette is visualized on the screen in the form of a digital shadow. The shadow reveals the text that is otherwise obfuscated. The distance of the viewers from the wall also determines the speed at which an audio file is played. In its resting state the audio is being played at 2% speed, making it completely distorted and unrecognizable, as the viewers approach the wall of text the sound speeds up and comes in focus revealing a voice reading the files in question. After a set interval of time the obfuscated text briefly disappears and is replaced by a live video feed spying on the viewer from a hidden infrared camera.