woocommerce-shipping-per-product domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /var/www/staging.esse.ca/htdocs/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6131complianz-gdpr domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /var/www/staging.esse.ca/htdocs/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6131In Crisis Vision: Race and the Cultural Production of Surveillance,<\/em> Torin Monahan uses a cultural-studies approach to examine the work of select contemporary visual artists who critique surveillance. Monahan, a scholar who specializes in the social and cultural dimensions of surveillance systems, dedicates the book\u2019s introduction to the definition of \u201ccrisis vision,\u201d which, in conceptual terms, describes \u201ca cultural formation that positions people in the world and structures their relationships.\u201d He also differentiates \u201csurveillance art\u201d from \u201ccritical surveillance art,\u201d with the focus of the latter going beyond surveillance problematics to address \u201cissues of domination, oppression and inequality.\u201d Then, the interrogations unfold across five chapters, whose single-word titles provide the investigative framework: \u201cAvoidance,\u201d \u201cTransparency,\u201d \u201cComplicity,\u201d \u201cViolence,\u201d and \u201cDisruption\u201d; works by artists such as Trevor Paglen, Danielle Baskin, and Santiago Sierra provide relevant case studies.<\/pre>\n\n\n\nIn response to the growing ubiquity of\u200a\u2014\u200aand ever-expanding market for\u200a\u2014\u200atracking and control technologies, surveillance is an increasingly popular topic of exploration among artists. However, Monahan notes that there is a dearth of artworks on the subject that adequately confront issues such as injustice, complicity, racism, and sexism, which structure the practices of othering and targeting. Likewise, I offer that there is a shortage of critical writing on surveillance art that pushes beyond the surface to consider, for example, how artists who claim to critique the hierarchies of privilege that enable surveillance culture may be simultaneously participating in and profiting from them. What distinguishes Crisis Vision<\/em> from other publications focusing on the topic is Monahan\u2019s attentive consideration of the concepts that articulate surveillance systems and by extension inform critical surveillance art, such as opacity, transparency, participation, transiency, invisibility, and identity. Rather than accepting these terms as formulaic elements of argument or assigning them binary values, Monahan reveals how they are often used in the service of privilege and are socially, culturally, and contextually flexible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Monahan is adept at identifying the subtle transgressions that occur when the operation of an artwork is at odds with its argument, such as when projects depend on empirical social or cultural differences that dictate what nature of performance is acceptable and by whom. In the \u201cAvoidance\u201d chapter, for example, he questions the aims and mechanics of the URME (pronounced \u201cyou are me\u201d) Surveillance project by artist Leo Selvaggio, which featured resin masks of the artist\u2019s own face to be worn by others with the intention of fooling facial recognition systems. Selvaggio acknowledged that part of the project depended on his white male privilege, though he argued that he was advancing a \u201cutopian ideal\u201d under which everyone should be granted this level of privilege. Monahan problematizes these aspirations by noting the racialized distinctions that tolerate the performance of privileged white males wearing such masks while criminalizing people of colour for wearing hoodies or making eye contact with police in urban settings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The strength of Crisis Vision<\/em> is found in Monahan\u2019s astute analyses, which consider the contours of artistic argument firmly located within the active environment of surveillance that informs the work. Other attributes of Crisis Vision<\/em> are its relative brevity (232 pages) and the conclusions in each chapter, which summarize their respective themes, making the book both an excellent resource in classrooms and a concise read for artists, art enthusiasts, academics, and activists alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Writing on art, architecture, and technology for a variety of publications for nearly twenty years, Tracy Valcourt is a recent graduate of Concordia University\u2019s humanities PhD program. Her research focuses on aerial perspectives of landscape.<\/p>\n