CCTV and surveillance culture have become an underlying trope of the 21st Century. With this increased level of observation, we somehow become more annonymous. Blurred faces get lost in the crowd, actions stripped of context, the observer imparts their own narratives on the cast of the endless, unedited stream.
Using Google Street View, I found 19 individuals within a 100 metre radius of my home and cropped and placed them into an endlessly repeating loop lasting 1.6 seconds in duration created in Flash. The pixelation and blurring from zooming into the images and the speed at which the images pass result in a confusing stream of data, on repetition, the viewer may end up focussing on a specific individual, anticipating their next appearance and building up more information each time their image passes.
The piece exists online as a flash animation but may also be installed in a dual screen format with the loops offset. The following text should appear in proximity to the piece:
“Caught on tape, our actions repeat, Purpose forgotten, in an endless cry to the gods of the 21st Century”