SOUSVEILLANCE

volksbühne berlin [2015]

In an era where recording devices have become nearly invisible, the power to document and distribute reality is no longer reserved for institutions or authorities. Today, anyone with a smartphone can capture and broadcast their daily lives in real-time, shaping a collective memory that exists beyond individual experience. This shift has not only redefined personal storytelling but has also transformed our relationship with time, truth, and control.

Surveillance was once a tool wielded exclusively by states, corporations, and privileged institutions — watching, tracking, and cataloging individuals from positions of authority. But the tide has turned. The observed have become the observers. Power is no longer centralized; it is fragmented, shared, and redistributed through the act of self-documentation. We no longer simply exist within a monitored society — we contribute to it, voluntarily and unconsciously, by storing and disseminating vast amounts of information at will.

This shift is more than technological; it is societal. Wearable computing, continuous data collection and artificial pattern recognition will redefine the boundaries between privacy and disclosure, control and subjugation, transparency and surveillance. What was once a clear divide between watcher and watched has collapsed into a complex, fluid exchange where visibility is currency, and participation is often obligatory.

As we navigate this landscape, new questions arise: Who owns the data that defines our reality? Who controls the narrative when everyone is both storyteller and subject? And what responsibilities come with this newfound agency? In the age of Sousveillance — where surveillance is no longer a top-down mechanism but a decentralized, omnipresent force—the very nature of authority, privacy, and truth is being rewritten in real-time.

To visually translate this concept, I created the key visual entirely by hand, using craftsmanship and traditional tools like ink and a feather pen. This tactile approach was a deliberate counterpoint to the digital surveillance age — where every movement is captured, yet human touch is increasingly absent. By embracing analog techniques in a hyper-digital world, the visual identity of Sousveillance underscores the tension between control and freedom, between the artificial and the authentic.