Central Madrid is looking a tad more cyberpunk these days, after the installation of a massive triangular obelisk chock-full of surveillance cameras.
But while one might expect this to be the product of a shadowy tech company doing the bidding of law enforcement, the ominous installation was designed by the Spanish artist SpY, in order to make an unmistakable point about the creep of surveillance tech into public space.
The triangular apparition measures about 65 feet on each side, and contains numerous screens inside, which the public can view through little peepholes at the ground level. Those screens are fed by CCTV cameras stationed near the top of the structure, which give unique — if dehumanized — views of the surrounding area.
“Through them, architecture, pedestrians, and traffic reappear from unexpected perspectives, revealing fragments of the landscape that the installation itself had concealed,” the artist wrote in a statement.
As the publication Design Boom observed, the obelisk — fittingly dubbed “Panopticon” — is fixated directly in front of the Palacio de Cibeles, an ornate government building which opened in 1919. Against such a lavish backdrop, the jet-black art piece appears all the more jarring.
Given its size, the art piece also dominates the public square in front of the palace, directly confronting people who are forced to walk around.
And that’s precisely the point.
“This device introduces a reflection on the mechanisms of contemporary surveillance,” the artist writes. “The concept of the panopticon explores how the possibility of being watched can lead us to internalize surveillance and regulate our own behavior, even in the absence of a visible observer.”
“In a society where cameras, screens, and digital devices increasingly mediate our relationship with the world,” SpY continues, “we constantly observe, record, and share what surrounds us. In doing so, we voluntarily participate in systems that also expose us to the gaze of others, transforming our relationship with privacy and control.”
More on surveillance: Innocent People Are Being Accused of Shoplifting by Faulty AI-Facial Recognition Systems at an Alarming Rate
The post Menacing Surveillance Obelisk Appears in Madrid appeared first on Futurism.
