"Their Eyes Are Watching You" Combines Surveillance, Art

July 28, 2006 |

With the advent of police cameras that can continually monitor public areas, the culture of constant surveillance that George Orwell described in his classic 1984 seems very real in 2006.

This fall, Goucher College’s Rosenberg Gallery will present “Their Eyes Are Watching You,” an exhibit of multimedia works that were inspired by surveillance equipment and techniques. Running from Monday, Aug. 28 through Friday, Oct.13, the show can be viewed weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and during scheduled events in Kraushaar Auditorium. Call (410) 337-6333 for additional hours.
 
Curated by Jackie Milad, “Their Eyes Are Watching You” features new work by New York-based improvisational and visual artist Clyde Forth. Known for combining dance, drawing, sculpture, video, and poetry in her work, Forth performs small vignettes for security cameras in banks, shops, and other public spaces. These tapes will be on a constant loop during the exhibit.
 
Baltimore-based artist Heather Boaz uses surveillance equipment in a more controlled manner. She films a variety of people trying to gauge how long it takes for a minute to pass. After the films are made, Boaz sets clocks to match her subjects’ perceptions of time, speeding up or slowing down the hands accordingly to make a type of portrait.

And Richard Delaney, an adjunct member of Goucher’s art faculty, will present work that explores the culture and imagery of home movies.
 
The Rosenberg Gallery program is funded with the assistance of grants from the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency funded by the state of Maryland and the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Baltimore County Commission on the Arts and Sciences.