| About the Project |
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| english | deutsch |
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You can watch me. For 22 years now I have been following the traces of public webcams: cameras installed in public or private spheres that automatically record images and spread them via internet. I research where they are located, travel there, and get myself photographed. New York and Moscow, London, Las Vegas and Singapore - I went to almost 900 webcams in 25 countries. So far. In New York, I was taken in police custody after standing around in front of a traffic webcam, later to be interrogated by the FBI. On location, I place myself in front of the camera. As »The Traveller«, I stare back. Same clothes, same pose, every time. You can recognize me in every image. You can watch me. A lot of questions arise. Who sets up these automated cameras, and why? What do they show? Are people aware of them? Who needs these images? Who looks at them? Does the presence of a camera alter a site? What constitutes a photographic image in terms of content, authorship or quality? »The Traveller« examines global spread of imagery between irrelevance, amusement, information and surveillance, and the aesthetics involved. Among many other places, The Traveller encountered the legendary coffee machine where the world's first webcam was ponted at, the ESA European Space Agency main control room, a huge cactus observed by four cameras, numerous front gardens and backyards, and the inside of a New York police station - arrested for strange behaviour. Presentation For exhibitions, selected images are transferred to photographic paper and presented as large-format prints. We also published a HD video »The Traveller 2001-2014« (462 images, runtime 63:07 min) in an edition of 6. C-prints and video are available for purchase to finance further travelling. Contact mail [at] jens-sundheim.de for details. |
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The Artists |
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| Thanks to Sascha Büttner, co-founder of this project. Website Markus Esser, photographer Website Etta Gerdes, photographer Website and many more who |
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