Title

Surveillance Bed III

Description

Since the early eighties, Julia Scher has been focusing on questions of personal identity within the context of power, such as surveillance and control. In the modified Surveillance Bed shown here, her interest in voyeurism and exhibitionism, characteristic of her work, is particularly evident. In this sense, the work manifests one of the most personal aspects of her wide-ranging work.
She once formulated her underlying interest as follows: "Power and its abuse is my most important subject matter, how power is misused to harm people".
The bed consists of four cameras and video monitors, each attached to a bedpost. The cameras record the events pictured on the bed. At random, the live video images are intermixed with pre-recorded video images on the video monitors. Thus the bed not only represents an image as an installation, but also depicts images of the activities that have taken place on it over time.

Creator

Julia Scher

Date

1994

Type

installation

Medium

multi-channel video installations

bedstead, steel, wood, foam, 4 monitors, 4 cameras, 1 infrared-camera, 2 computer video switchers, 2 video players, 1 video recorder, 1 microphone, 1 amplifier, 2 speakers, 1 ARRI light (with red filter), cable, bedsheet, blanket

Source

Esther Schipper Gallery: description

Extent

180 x 240 x 180 centimeters

Is Part Of

Surveillance Beds