A black line projects the visual limit of the two-dimensional screen surveillance monitor into the three-dimensional reality, revealing the boundary between surveilled and uncontrolled space. A single line separates two areas with differentiated behavioral conducts: the space in the frame and the space out of the frame. By revealing the physical limit, the intervention neutralizes the panopticon effect that the camera object projects — The effectiveness of surveillance is canceled once its limits become physical. Though a straightforward gesture, the fuzziness of the monitored areas disappears, revealing a sequence of potential spaces for transgression.
"The Limits of Surveillance" aims to break down and bring up video surveillance's cinematic/spatial aspects. Video cameras are used to observe a particular area and are connected to a recording device. These sequences are then monitored through a screen by security personnel and then encoded on a digital support. The installation aims to demonstrate the existence of more immediate components and involve the architectural space and highlight the complexity of the system where the user has been implicated, in most cases, without being warned.
This visual operation aims to be transferable to any area controlled by closed-circuit television. A step-by-step process is described and produced, providing a set of instructions to replicate the installation in any video-monitored public space.