James Coupe  

Five 3D printed pale yellow shell-like objects

Lifestreams

Proboscis

Illluminated acrylic sculpture of a red-lit person holding a book

The Reader

Stanza

Watching the Watchers, James Bridle, 2013. Multiple mounted colour prints

Watching the Watchers

James Bridle

Twenty Thousand Seconds, Dan Hett, 2016. Algorithmically generated live coding image film (from an ongoing series)

Twenty Thousand Seconds

Dan Hett

Circular blue, black and white inverted image of tree

Inverted Night Sky

Jeronimo Voss

black and white image of booklet called Daemons of the Shadow World

Daemons of the Shadow World

Giles Lane

Rates for the Job, Sam Meech, 2016. Order form and performative contractual exchange action 

Rates for the Job

Sam Meech

Corruption, Thomson & Craighead, 2014

Corruption

Thomson & Craighead

Image of an illuminated digital fountain dark blue on black background

Fountain

Katriona Beales

kinetic artwork of a circular wooden base and brass arches with a small brass seasaw with a weight

Allusive Protocols (prototypes)

Julie Freeman

photo of sensor hanging in a darl room with two screens

Measure for Measure for Measure

David Gauthier

Re-knitting 'tester' Jumper, Amy Twigger Holroyd, 2013. Hacked knitted garment

Re-knitting ‘tester’ jumper

Amy Twigger Holroyd

Screen capture of multi-coloured digitally generated flowers

Flowers

Daniel Brown

The spectrum of re-knitting treatments, Amy Twigger Holroyd, 2012. Digital print on paper

The spectrum of re-knitting treatments

Amy Twigger Holroyd

Photo of The Promises Machione a wooden display with embedded screen

The Promises Machine

Rachel Jacobs

Transmission series

Transmission One and Transmission Two

Dan Hett

multicoloured cartoon collage with 3D rendered large golden hand

Unauthorised Copy

Antonio Roberts

Listening to Shetland Wool, Felicity Ford, 2013. Interactive online aporee sound map

Sonic Pattern and the Textility of Code

Felicity Ford

The Clandestine Purse, Natasha Caruana, 2008

The Clandestine Purse

Natasha Caruana

The Doffing Misstress Takes a Stroll, David Littler, 2016. Participatory installation. Piano player, paper scores, materials for contribution

The Doffing Mistress Takes a Stroll

David Littler

Six Years of Mondays, Thomson & Craighead, 2014

Six Years of Mondays

Thomson & Craighead

Photo of multi story wooden tower

A Machine for Living

James Coupe

Body 01000010011011110110010001111001, Stanza, 2012. Perspex, Arduino, electronic components, internet connection

Body 01000010011011110110010001111001

Stanza

Punchcard Economy, Sam Meech, 2013. ODI: 3.5 x 0.5m knitted banner, FutureEverything: 5 x 3m knitted banner & knitting machines

Punchcard Economy

Sam Meech

Re-knitting step by step guide, Amy Twigger Holroyd, 2012. Digital prints on paper

Re-knitting step by step guide

Amy Twigger Holroyd

Gallery installation of multiple photos

The Longest and Darkest of Recollections

Liz Orton

Forkbomb, Alex McLean, 2001. Perl script computer code with paper output

Forkbomb

Alex McLean

image of black and white animation on a screen of women and a wire fence

There Are Worlds Out There They Never Told You About

Jackie Karuti

balck and white photo of sign in countryside landscape

50.080697, -5.694138

Evan Roth

Image of computer generated object in natural woodland

Shifting

Katriona Beales

image of pylon-like communications tower inverted white out of red

http://s33.820180e151.184813.com.au

Evan Roth

Married Man, Natasha Caruana, 2008

Married Man

Natasha Caruana

person in white wearing a sci-fi helmet with lots of protrusions

Quasar-2A

Field

Close up of lightbulbs from The Future artwork

The Future

Alicia Eggert and Safwat Saleem

image of screen and aerials in gallery

Open Space Observatory

Kei Kreutler and Libre Space Foundation

Image of ghostly woman on black background (CIPHER artwork)

CIPHER

Katriona Beales

20Hz, Semiconductor, 2011. HD + HD 3D single channel video. 05.00 minutes

20Hz

Semiconductor

Canal Observatory

AusBlau

abstract sculpture in blue and pale pink

Public Protection, Private Collection

Felicity Hammond

Flipped Clock, Thomson & Craighead, 2008

Flipped Clock

Thomson & Craighead

Weather Gauge, Thomson & Craighead, 2009

Weather Gauge

Thomson & Craighead

Black and white abstract image

Shadows of the State

Lewis Bush

Listening to Shetland Wool

Felicity Ford

Installation photo of red frame, number display and construction

53°32’.01N, 003°21’.29W, from the Sea

David Gauthier

Mini Rugs and their Friends

Mini Rugs and their Friends

Riitta Oittinen

Voyager (Micromégas), Thomson & Craighead, 2013

Voyager (Micromégas)

Thomson & Craighead

Metrography, Benedikt Groß & Bertrand Clerc, 2012. Print on aluminium

Metrography

Benedikt Groß and Bertrand Clerc

KNITSONIK Stranded Colourwork Sourcebook, Felicity Ford, 2014. Crowd-funded publication

KNITSONIK Stranded Colourwork Sourcebook

Felicity Ford

{poem}.py

{poem}.py

Pip Thornton

image of a screen with four chairs each with a ventriloquists half-masks hanging above each

Recruitment Goes Wrong

Thomson & Craighead

Dystopian digital city landscape

Cover designs for William Gibson’s Neuromancer trilogy

Daniel Brown

Pillars of Hercules, James Brooks, 2014

Pillars of Hercules

James Brooks

Three Hundred and Sixty Seconds, Dan Hett, 2016. Algorithmically generated live coding production stills (from an ongoing series)

Three Hundred and Sixty Seconds

Dan Hett

Fairytale for Sale, Natasha Caruana, 2011

Fairytale for Sale

Natasha Caruana

Gallery photo of someone in a VR helmet viewing artwork

Substance – A whole history of hollows and reliefs

Phil Coy

Still Lifes and Oscillators 1, Ben Garrod, 2012. Paint

Still Lifes and Oscillators 1

Ben Garrod

Data as Culture - Art that uses data as a material

Through a modular network of screens, the watchtower embeds the living rooms, bedrooms and workplaces of hundreds of crowd- workers into its structure. The installation’s surveilling (and surveilled) agents are members of mTurk (or Mechanical Turk). This on-demand scalable workforce, or crowdsourcing Internet ‘marketplace’, enables individuals and businesses to employ workers remotely to do tasks that computers are currently unable to. Coupe has commissioned crowd-workers to complete unusual tasks that require them to reflect, document, dream, plan, and consume all forms of observation – illustrating a very human approach to what we normally consider a machinic, computer-led, process.

Through the crowdsourcing of these tasks to an ‘unseen’ workforce, surveillance today is revealed as something bidirectional and dispersed. By bringing the normally outdoor watchtower structure into a gallery context, the work creates a strange kind of monument to observation and in an act of subversion, grants us a rare opportunity to consider who is watching whom.

Courtesy of the artist. Commissioned by FACT with support from DXARTS (University of Washing ton) and American Hardwood Export Council. This was the premiere of the work.