Surveillance | About the work 

(From the catalogue of the exhibition Search Engine by Sergio Edelsztein and Hila Cohen-Sneiderman)

Surveillance (134.29.162.41/home/homeJ.html) is a large-scale panoramic photo-collage consisting of 11,000 single images taken as computer screen shots. The images are taken from an online surveillance camera system that produces a high-definition video signal and enables the user to not only watch it but also carefully control the movements of the camera with keyboard and mouse.

As it turns out, thousands of online surveillance cameras are virtually exposed to all eyes on the net and are accessible through IP addresses easily found in standard search engine. In Surveillance, Baram took control over one such system located in an anonymous American laboratory and scanned the interior, frame by frame.

Juxtaposing the images resulted in a single high-resolution image that allows the viewer a wide overview of the space, on the one hand, and a detailed inspection of it on the other. However, instead of producing a homogeneous image and concealing the techniques used in assembling it, Baram opted to forego automatic means of fusion and preserve the specific traits of each and every photograph.

He has decided to simulate the movement of the surveillance camera he took control of as it surveys the space in which it is installed. Thus the presence of the act of surveying is evident also in the process of assembling and producing the image, making the viewer a part of the surveying system.