It’s
an
increasingly
common
sight
on
vacation,
particularly
in
tourist
destinations:
An
influencer
sets
up
in
front
of
a
popular
local
landmark,
sometimes
even
using
props
(coffee,
beer,
pets)
or
changing
outfits,
as
a
photographer
or
self-timed
camera
snaps
away.
Others
are
milling
around,
sometimes
watching.
But
often,
unbeknownst
to
everyone
involved,
another
device
is
also
recording
the
scene:
a
surveillance
camera.

Belgian
artist
Dries
Depoorter
is
exploring
this
dynamic
in
his
controversial
new
online
exhibit,


The
Followers,
which
he
unveiled
last
week.
The
art
project
places
static
Instagram
images
side-by-side
with
video
from
surveillance
cameras,
which
recorded
footage
of
the
photoshoot
in
question.

pic.twitter.com/1hkE0Ga2aO

—
Dries
Depoorter
(@driesdepoorter)

September
12,
2022

On
its
face,

The
Followers
is
an
attempt,
like
many
other

studies,

art
projects
and

documentaries
in
recent
years,
to
expose
the
staged,
often
unattainable
ideals
shown
in
many
Instagram
and
influencer
photos
posted
online.
But

The
Followers
also
tells
a
darker
story:
one
of
increasingly
worrisome
privacy
concerns
amid
an
ever-growing
network
of
surveillance
technology
in
public
spaces.
And
the
project,
as
well
as
the
techniques
used
to
create
it,
has
sparked
both
ethical
and
legal
controversy.

To
make

The
Followers,
Depoorter
started
with

EarthCam,
a
network
of
publicly
accessible
webcams
around
the
world,
to
record
a
month’s
worth
of
footage
in
tourist
attractions
like
New
York
City’s
Times
Square
and
Dublin’s
Temple
Bar
Pub.
Then
he
enlisted
an
artificial
intelligence
(A.I.)
bot,
which
scraped
public
Instagram
photos
taken
in
those
locations,
and
facial-recognition
software,
which
paired
the
Instagram
images
with
the
real-time
surveillance
footage.

Depoorter
calls
himself
a
“surveillance
artist,”
and
this
isn’t
his
first
project
using
open-source
webcam
footage
or
A.I.
Last
year,
for
a
project
called


The
Flemish
Scrollers,
he
paired
livestream
video
of
Belgian
government
proceedings
with
an
A.I.
bot
he
built
to
determine
how
often
lawmakers
were
scrolling
on
their
phones
during
official
meetings.

“The
idea
[for

The
Followers]
popped
in
my
head
when
I
watched
an
open
camera
and
someone
was
taking
pictures
for
like
30
minutes,”
Depoorter
tells


Vice’s
Samantha
Cole.
He
wondered
if
he’d
be
able
to
find
that
person
on
Instagram.

Public
reaction
to
the
project
has
been
mixed;
some
have
praised
Depoorter
for
drawing
attention
to
the
modern
surveillance
state,
while
others
have
criticized
what
they
see
as
a
flippant
use
of
potentially
harmful
technology:
showing
how
easy
it
is
to
access
livestream
footage
and
facial-recognition
software.
Many
of
these
critics
encouraged
the
artist
never
to
make
the
A.I.
he
developed
public.

Please
don’t
ever
release
this,
make
it
publicly
available
or
sell
it
to
someone
who
doesn’t
need
it.

—
Josh
W
(@welfordian)

September
12,
2022

“Art
does
many
great
things,
including
stir
generative
discussions
and
debate
about
life
as
we
know
it,”

Francesca
Sobande,
a
digital
media
scholar
at
Cardiff
University,
tells


Input’s
Chris
Stokel-Walker.
“However,
art
projects
can
also
have
harmful
effects.
Such
harms
should
not
be
brushed
aside
in
discussions
about
art
and
the
technology
that
is
sometimes
central
to
it.”

Depoorter
tells


Hyperallergic’s
Rhea
Nayyar
that
he
won’t
be
releasing
the
software.
Still,
he
says,
“I’m
only
one
person.
I
have
limited
access
to
data,
cameras
…
Governments
can
take
this
to
another
level.”

The
Followers
has
also
hit
some
legal
snags
since
going
live.
The
project
was
originally
up
on
YouTube,
but
EarthCam
filed
a
copyright
claim,
and
the
piece
has
since
been
taken
down.
Depoorter
tells

Hyperallergic
that
he’s
attempting
to
resolve
the
claim
and
get
the
videos
re-uploaded.
(The
project
is
still
available
to
view
on
the

official
website
and
the
artist’s
Twitter).

Depoorter
hasn’t
replied
directly
to
much
of
the
criticism,
but
he
tells

Input
he
wants
the
art
to
speak
for
itself.
“I
know
which
questions
it
raises,
this
kind
of
project,”
he
says.
“But
I
don’t
answer
the
question
itself.
I
don’t
want
to
put
a
lesson
into
the
world.
I
just
want
to
show
the
dangers
of
new
technologies.”

Artikel ini diambil dari https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-followers-influencer-photos-surveillance-footage-180980825/