Thursday Night #3: 9/19/13 Sanctum

          Sanctum is an installation that exists in and around the UW campus, primarily at the entrance to the Henry art museum. The proposal for Sanctum, by UW professors James Coup and Juan Pampin, won a competition in 2011 for the space around the Henry's entrance. There are multiple cameras set up to record pedestrians walking by and interacting with the piece. These recorded videos and information collected from consenting Facebook users are matched with the people interacting by the Henry entrance. The information is matched through algorithms meant to determine the age and gender of the people interacting with the cameras. Once the pedestrians and existing information have been matched, text from Facebook posts will overlay the videos on the screen. The text is also read aloud, and at times various parts are read aloud simultaneously. Corresponding videos can also be played. Videos recorded in Sanctum are replayed and periodically erased.

          Conspiracy theories and ideas of privacy and control have intrigued me for years. As such, Sanctum didn't bring up concepts or perspectives I hadn't already considered. It did, however, push me to explore these perspectives in further depth. Social media, and technology in general, has increased the capability of invasive practices to a whole new level. It's easier, and more common than ever, to track, record, and utilize information gained from often unsuspecting subjects. People often don't realise the capability of the technology they engage in. Even the few that read the terms and conditions cannot begin to fathom how the information they give out will be used. Now I'm trying to keep my own ideas, theories, and biases aside. No matter what the effects of such intense data collection may be, I think it can be agreed that there is a lot of information being collected. So after viewing Sanctum, it reignited the paranoia I already have concerning media, technology, social networks, and the illusion of privacy. It seems impossible to escape, and I'm constantly wondering what I can to do protect myself and keep technology from using me, rather than me using it.