SURVEILLANCE
MARGARET KELLER S U R V E I L L A N C E OCTOBER 21 — DECEMBER 2, 2017
ARTIST STATEMENT
My constant use of a cell phone and laptop shows this seductive
digital technology plays a pervasive role in my life. Embracing the newest iPhone or the latest app, I capture, link and distribute what interests me. Also a constant in my life is the network of surveillance in our country that means virtually everything I do digitally is no longer private. Digital cameras provide an endless loop of doubtful examination and ultimately reveal themselves as threats to freedom, civil liberty and identity privacy. On average, one surveillance camera operates per every eleven citizens, as we are recorded an average of 75 times per day. Among the targets of constant surveillance are email, phone calls, texting, online activities like personal finances, photographs, social media and business communications, and location services that track movement. My art looks back at these cameras—at the vast insertion of surveillance cameras into the natural world, and shows the tangled, complex and hidden aspects of this intrusion. One artwork, my installation Drone Carpet, is a patterned arrangement of unusual objects placed upon a black, floating platform. Alternating rows of 165 tiny drone sculptures are arranged in the pattern of the American flag, but in colors of gray and white, as somber representations of the United States as an instrument of surveillance. Using a wide range of different media such as graphite drawings, oil paintings, frescos, mixed media, 3D printing, video and installation, I focus on this secretive relationship between subject and spectator in twenty new works of art, ranging from giant 15
At left: Darkwoods 1, 2016, digital print, drawing, collage, mixed media, 20� diameter tondo
MARGARET KELLER: SURVEILLANCE
foot-long drawings of lurking cameras to frescoes of miniature eyes watching back.
3
The Anatomy of Surveillance
I
magine yourself walking a
surveillance and privacy intrusion
inch silk screen prints elucidated
wooded path on a still winter
has far-reaching implications as
with vivid pigments, and winding
night. No moon looms overhead,
brought front-and-center by Edward
ephemeral forms [1-5]. Upon first
the stars are the only illumination.
Snowden in 2013. On the other
glance, the viewer is struck by the
With each step you become
hand, corporate surveillance of our
curious organic objects contained
increasingly aware of the creature
homes, our digital presence, and
within a circle, which may represent
eyes watching through the vines
our everyday lives is something we
the view of a camera, or perhaps
and branches, waiting for some
at best ignore and at worst eagerly
a microscope. The sentinel is the
clue as to your intentions or
invite. As Keller herself puts it with
watcher that scrutinizes our lives,
fulfilling some primal curiosity.
regard to her Surveillance Series:
mindlessly, through a lens. Through
Pessimistically, you might be
“…[A] constant in my life is
this, our world is flattened out in
devoured or merely observed,
the network of surveillance in
ways that perhaps don’t make
idly, until you make your way
our country that means virtually
sense even to whoever’s gaze is
back to a campsite or cabin.
everything I do digitally is no
magnified or refracted through the
Margaret Keller’s work underlines
longer private. Digital cameras
looking glass. Keller’s Sentinels
a more existential problem in the
provide an endless loop of doubtful
are kaleidoscopic representations
wilderness of culture. When this
examination and ultimately reveal
of what? Organic forms such as
natural manifestation of an animal
themselves as threats to freedom,
these, or our bodies, are judged
inclination, to surveil in secret, is
civil liberty and identity privacy.”
by a disembodied surveillor
codified into technological, political,
MARGARET KELLER: SURVEILLANCE
4
BY JOE KOHLBURN
Keller’s Sentinels allow us, for
and subsequently obscured and
and coercive form, two problems
a moment, to watch the watcher.
decontextualized. Information,
arise. On the one hand, American
The set includes five fourteen-
metadata and data, rendered
UsofA Drone Carpet, 102 drones, 6.5” long each (3D printed on sintered nylon, 72”x 4
Off the Record
prison design by philosopher and
existential dread. Each inmate
in databases and spreadsheets
social theorist Jeremy Bentham.
carried the disembodied surveillor
across government and corporate
The prison, called the Panopticon,
in his psyche, adding psychological
servers is ostensibly resistant
consists of a tower surrounded
chains to those around his wrists
to uniform scrutiny, to actual
by a ring of prison cells, built out
or ankles. Each action within the
knowing.The point, perhaps, is
like the axle and rim of a wheel
panopticon is governed by this
less the collation of the massive
[6]. From the central tower, the
persistent paranoia. Post Snowden,
amounts of data that governments
prison guard can project a light into
it’s easy to empathize with these
collect on private citizens, through
any of the surrounding cells. The
prisoners, who might have been
omnipresent closed circuit cameras,
inmates themselves are unable to
arrested for something as harmless
and more what Foucault would
judge with any certainty at whom
as an unpaid debt. We presumably
point to as the chilling effect of
the guard is actually looking. The
are innocent in the meantime.
being surveilled.
guard could scrutinize the prisoner,
Foucault conceptualized the
or he could simply take a nap.
panopticon as a metaphor for state
Birth of the Prison, Foucault outlines
The effect, Foucault argues, is the
disciplinary power. Contemporary
the means by which states exercise
same. The inmates are controlled
government surveillance has the
control through disciplinary and
not by actual surveillance, but by
added dimension of a Phillip K. Dick
punitive mechanisms. Among
the internalized threat of being
short story in which we are being
the epistemological excavations
watched. The goal of the panopticon
punished for theoretical crimes we
in which Foucault engages, is
is to impose a built-in surveillor
have not yet even contemplated.
the history of a late 18th century
on the psyche, an efficient and
Keller notes:
In Discipline and Punish: The
MARGARET KELLER: SURVEILLANCE
meaningless through its abundance
5
Tangle, 2016, graphite on vellum, 14’x 36”
individually seem almost precious,
to hers, and both artists have
camera operates per every eleven
“On average, one surveillance
and yet in their arranged formation-
explored the topic extensively
citizens, as we are recorded an
they loom larger and more
over the previous decade. In both
average of 75 times per day. Among
menacing. This swarm of lenses
Keller and Poitras’ art, the threat of
the targets of constant surveillance
could potentially be aimed at any
military technologies is paramount,
are email, phone calls, texting,
of us as we are observed. We might
particularly when aimed at civilian
online activities like personal
be watched by one who is subject
targets. Poitras points to the title
finances, photographs, social media
to spare regulation, and limited
of an encrypted file, forwarded
and business communications,
only by money and unknowable
to wikileaks by Snowden, which
and location services that track
personal ethics. Keller’s drones
contained evidence of NSA mass
movement.”
are modeled on the Black Hornet,
surveillance. Technology, in this
an expensive model presently
case, is merely the physical
mentioned work, and a series of
available to consumer markets.
manifestation of state intent, to
tondos titled Darkwoods 1-3, Link,
According to industry research,
watch, to invade, and to control.
Amplify, and Mesh, (particularly
the global market for commercial
Keller’s work points at the problem
the latter) how perception of these
drones in 2014, immediately after
in a subtler way. Recreational
watchers is dulled and even aes-
Snowden’s revelations, was $552
drones feel outrageous as we go
theticized while our sense of being
million. These technologies threaten
for a hike in a National Park, but
watched is simultaneously amplified
to become ubiquitous and therefore
are we missing a large part of
[7-12].
unremarkable, making them even
the surveillance equation? One
more dangerous.
side of the coin is indeed state
One may read from her afore-
MARGARET KELLER: SURVEILLANCE
6
New technologies for surveillance arise comfortably
Drones are only one product
overreach, but another is our willing
from America’s military-industrial
of commercial militarization,
participation and complicity in
complex. USofA Drone Carpet
and surveillance is a frequent
the erosion of our own privacy.
contains a series of alternating gray
touchstone for contemporary art.
Drones are far less charismatic
and white fabricated drones forming
As the artist herself notes, work
than iPhones. Keller’s short video
the lines of an American flag [13].
like Laura Poitras’ Astro Noise
Off the Record presents a series of
Small objects such as these would
may be considered a kindred effort
names of government surveillance
programs juxtaposed in alternating
User agreement. These technologies
ephemeral lines. Their seemingly
colors and fonts [14]. At first glance,
are so common in our lives that we
harmless delineations obfuscate
these conjure the familiar form
gloss over the very real danger they
the sinister intent of the wires and
of a word cloud, a favored tool
pose to our civil liberties, clicking
lenses they depict. The titles of
of bloggers and web designers
‘agree’, and going about the rest of
these works, Tangle, Twist, Surge,
in which words or phrases are
the day.
Propagate, do not merely suggest
organized within the particular
In Keller’s aptly named
the natural bodies of plants and
Proliferate, 12 small tins are
deep ocean creatures, they also
in varying size according to their
presented in the context of the
propose the means by which the
corresponding frequency. The
consumer commodity [15]. Each
signified manifestations of state
invasion of wartime technologies
tin once contained Altoids, but
and corporate control are able to
into the civic realm is imposed, to
now houses a fresco in which the
infiltrate the structures of our social
be sure, through the militarization
artist positions the all-seeing eye
order [16-19]. Like the roots of trees,
of police, and other means, but
of either the state, or effectively
this impetus slowly pushes through
increasingly, we are inviting this
anyone else with the means to
the foundations of our institutions,
stranger into our lives through our
leverage it. Within this slight
both concrete and ideological.
purchases of enabling devices.
object, the intention of the creator
While state surveillance invades
Vizio’s recent kerfuffle with the
is kept hidden, to be revealed or
the structure of our lives, we at
FTC is instructive. As a consumer
not, as the surreptitious project
the same time invite commodified
technology company that produces,
is proliferated through habitual
forms of these technologies directly
among other things, “Smart TVs”,
consumerism. This impetus is not
into our homes. What indeed is
Vizio was fined $2.2 million for
just material. Our online activities
Keller indicating with these forms?
monitoring consumer viewing
are a similarly abundant harvest for
Are we looking at vines or cables,
habits without consent. This action
entities that collect, maintain, and
situated on expansive white paper
by the FTC is arguably a token one,
sell records of our searches, likes,
and vellum? What is she depicting
since Vizio could have avoided
and retweets. Meanwhile, Keller’s
if not the body of the surveillor
the lawsuit completely merely by
graphite works weave and emerge
and the apparatus of surveillance,
burying notice in a draconian End-
with deceptive elegance between
intertwined and obscured as they
MARGARET KELLER: SURVEILLANCE
document, and then presented
7
Tangle (detail), 2016, graphite on vellum, 14’x 36”
MARGARET KELLER: SURVEILLANCE
8
Tangle (detail), 2016, graphite on vellum, 14’x 36”
MARGARET KELLER: SURVEILLANCE
Darkwoods 2, 2017, digital print, drawing, collage, mixed media, 20� diameter tondo
9
Sentinel 4, 2016, silkscreen print with Prismacolor, 14”x 14”
are in the world around us? The gaze
MARGARET KELLER: SURVEILLANCE
10
These data are stored, bought
our social interactions. Algorithmic
of the subject, state or corporate,
and sold, and utilized furthermore
considerations involve not what is
objectifies and commodifies our
to control our appetites through
true or what is urgent, necessarily,
bodies, our thoughts, and our social
targeted advertising.
but first and foremost what it
interactions. Keller says: “As we capture, internalize, link
Eli Parser’s notion of the filter
is we want to read. In this way,
bubble (see seminal book The
conservative readers will encounter
and distribute the data that interests
Filter Bubble, 2011, and obligatory
almost exclusively conservative
us, these actions themselves
accompanying TED talk) points to
information, and progressive
catalyze and change the subject/
the means by which our prejudices,
readers will be confined to the other
object relationship. A fluid hybridism
predilections, and interests
end of the spectrum unless either
evolves that blurs the distinction
are leveraged by social media
group makes specific efforts to
between subject and spectator.”
companies and others to organize
reach beyond. This echo chamber
Sentinel 5, 2016, silkscreen print with Prismacolor, 14”x 14”
through which we gradually and
in which ideas are debated,
to be ‘right’ above all else, and is a
willingly construct the environment
challenged, and refined. This coupled
primary cause of our present social,
for unknown forces to watch us.
with creeping erosion of our legal
political, and intellectual alienation
The average person’s complicity in
privacy rights constitutes a new
from one another. One wonders if
this network of surveillance is clear,
paradigm in which we are isolated
indeed corporate surveillance of
willing or otherwise.“If you wish to
by choice, and sorted into groups
this type produces social problems
keep a secret you must,” as George
with similar viewpoints, to be more
at a faster rate than any system
Orwell wrote in his prescient fiction
easily controlled.
of closed-circuit cameras or NSA
1984, “also hide it from yourself.” The
programs. Several analogs to
filter bubble is a comfortable cloister
material, it is digital, it manifests in
Keller’s Proliferate come to mind: The
for our thoughts, and as such, an
paranoia, a feeling of discomfort,
smartphone, or the internet of things
erosion of the intellectual commons
and perhaps as yet obscured
The anatomy of surveillance is
MARGARET KELLER: SURVEILLANCE
is geared to meet the human need
11
psychic wounds. If we take as given
MARGARET KELLER’s artwork
in painting and printmaking. She
the presence and necessity of
has been exhibited in galleries,
studied the history of garden design
this anatomy, we are acquiescing
museums and collections in Berlin,
at London University and also did
to the erosion of our identities
Chicago, Atlanta, California, Ohio,
post-graduate studies at Webster
and civil liberties. Keller’s work
Colorado, Missouri, Maryland,
University in electronic media and at
interrogates the nature of our
Wisconsin, Arkansas, New York,
the University of Arizona.
political and social locus within this
Beijing and others. Currently, her art
body of surveillance. Her aesthetic
is at Quadratfuß, NX2, Annex Art,
JOE KOHLBURN is an art-historian,
framework suggests the resilience
Berlin/ Budapest and was recently
arts-organizer, and librarian. He is
and ubiquity of efforts to invade our
at The Arkansas Art Center Museum
co-creator of Critical Conversations,
privacy. She compels us to object
in Little Rock and the RAC gallery
and host of the 5 Questions Podcast,
to the juxtaposition of vines and
in St. Louis. Her art reviews have
both Critical Mass for the Visual Arts
wires, leaves and lenses, as though
appeared in ArtReview.com, the St.
programs. Joe is interested in the
it is somehow benign or natural.
Louis Post-Dispatch, Art In America,
means by which art investigates and
Keller asks us to separate in our
the New Art Examiner and Review
challenges the social, political, and
minds what grows wild and what is
magazine .Keller has a degree in
ethical underpinnings of culture,
planted by those with the worst of
drawing from the University of
in artists as complete beings, and
intentions.
Missouri-Columbia and a M.F.A. from
in the communicative and occult
Washington University in St. Louis
mechanisms of creative practice.
—Joe Kohlburn, August 2017
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Commercial Drone Market Analysis By Product (Fixed Wing, Rotary Blade, Nano, Hybrid), By Application (Agriculture, Energy, Government, Media & Entertainment) And Segment Forecasts To 2022. San Francisco: Grand View Research, 2017. http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/global-Commercial-dronesmarket (accessed June 21, 2017). Federal Trade Commission. “VIZIO to Pay $2.2 Million to FTC, State of New Jersey to Settle Charges It Collected Viewing Histories on 11 Million Smart Televisions without Users’ Consent, 2017.” https://www.ftc.gov/newsevents/press-releases/2017/02/vizio-pay-22-million- ftc-state-new-jersey-settle-charges-it (accessed June 20, 2017). Foucault, Michel. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Translated by Alan Sheridan.
New York: Vintage Books, 1995.
Keller, Margaret. Email correspondence and artist statement. May 31, 2017. Parser, Eli. The Filter Bubble: How the New Personalized Web is Changing What We Read and How We Think. London: Penguin Books, 2011.
MARGARET KELLER: SURVEILLANCE
12
At right, above: Proliferate (shut), 2015, Altoid boxes, mixed media, fresco, 3.75”x 2.25” ea (12 total) At right, below: Proliferate (open), 2015, Altoid boxes, mixed media, fresco, 3.75”x 2.25” ea (12 total)
Acknowledgments
On behalf of Gallery 210 I want to thank Margaret Keller for allowing Gallery 210 the opportunity to premier his new work. It has been
This exhibition is supported in part by the College of Arts and Sciences, the Center for the Humanities, and the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency.
a great pleasure to work with her on this project. I also want to thank Joe Kohlburn for the outstanding essay he wrote for this publication and a special note of appreciation to Cindy LaBreacht for her excellent work in designing the publication for this exhibition. I want to thank the Gallery‘s 210 assistants for their work on this exhibition. As always it is their dedication, creativity, and hard work that makes this exhibition, and all of the gallery’s programs, possible. I want to acknowledge the support of Dr. Ronald Yasbin, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Karen Lucas of the Center for the Humanities, the Gallery 210 Advisory Committee, Dr. Maureen Quigley, Chair for the Department of Art and Art History, and my colleagues in the Department of Art and Art History for their support of the gallery’s programs.
Michael Nguyen, Jasmine Blanks, Eric Eggers, and Abby Gordon
GALLERY ASSISTANTS: Emily Geno, Darionne Hardaway,
GALLERY VOLUNTEER: Ron Lewis GALLERY ADVISORY COMMITTEE: DDr. Ruth Bohan, Mike Behle,
Phil Robinson, Isaac Douglas Kirk, Dr. Louis Lankford, Katherine Rodway-Vega, and Roseann Weiss PHOTOGRAPHY: Richard Sprengeler BROCHURE DESIGN: Cindy LaBreacht COPY EDITING: Sarah Weinman PRINTING: University of Missouri-St. Louis Printing Services GALLERY 210 UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI—ST. LOUIS Arnold Grobman Drive, One University Blvd. St. Louis, Missouri 63121 HOURS Tuesday–Saturday, 11:00 a.m.– 5:00 p.m. GALLERY 314.516.5976 OFFICE 314.516.5952 FAX 314.516.4997 EMAIL gallery@umsl.edu WEB gallery210.umsl.ed
All artwork couretsy of the artist.
At left: Mesh, 2017, oil on canvas, 10” diameter. On the reverse: Propagrate, 2015, watercolor and graphite on paper, 30”x 22”