Subtitled Public - Mexico City

Subtitled Public
video/mp4
640 × 480
04:23

"Subtitled Public," 2005
computer, custom software, camera, projector
variable dimension interactive installation
Installation view at Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros, Mexico City, México.
"Subtitled Public" consists of an empty exhibition space where visitors are tracked with a computerized infrared surveillance system. As people enter the installation, texts are projected onto their bodies: these “subtitles” consist of thousands of verbs conjugated in third person and they follow each individual everywhere they go. The only way to get rid of a subtitle is to touch someone else: the words then are exchanged between them. The piece invades the supposed neutrality of the space that museums and galleries set-up for contemplation, underlining the violent and asymmetric character of observation. "Subtitled Public" also highlights the danger of surveillance systems that typecast and try to detect different ethnic groups or suspicious individuals, as in the latest computer-vision devices that are being deployed in public spaces around the world. Finally, the installation is an ironic commentary on our era of technological personalization, literally branding all spectators and converting them into “thematic individuals”.