A progress update on the final compositions for Assignment 2.

A WISE OLD OWL

A wise old owl lived in an oak
The more he saw the less he spoke
The less he spoke the more he heard.
Why can’t we all be like that wise old bird?

THE CONCEPT (Thus far)

Over consultation, it was suggested that I take the idea of watching and being watched further to discuss the issue of surveillance and privacy, in a “Big Brother is watching” sort of way.

It was pointed out that during the first assignment, I attempted to tackle issues relating to current affairs, the press and the media; a topic which I held deep interest in. While not necessarily a CURRENT affair, I do recall it being a hot topic of discussion roughly a few years back: when Wikileaks was a new thing.

When the war on terror was just starting to heat up again and governments all around the world were stepping up their security and intelligence measures. When people were just starting to realize just how UN-private their lives are now thanks to the internet, taking a problem with Google and data mining. When there was much discussion over how monitored Singapore was and how it was akin to a police state; how telcos are divulging information once thought private to the authorities.

Based on the aforementioned topics, I have narrowed down 3 main points of discussion that I hope to explore in ths project through the 4 compositions

• Panopticon
  

  Presidio Modelo Prison

  A form of design for institutions or prisons where a tower is placed right in the middle of the place. With strong lights shining into the  rooms, the guards can survey all the wall-less rooms around it from the tower.
  It has also been suggested that a panoptic design can not only be implemented within buildings but on cities as well.

• Authority, security and surveillance
  The ability and right to survey is often lies with the government or relevant security agencies but who are they to judge and analyze our “private” information?
• The internet: Self imposed surveillance
  With the growing popularity of social media, people have begun “surveilling” themselves by revealing their locations, actions and thoughts for the world to see.
• Who watches the watchers?
  With increased awareness and outrage in the loss of privacy, should governments reduce the amount of surveillance or should someone step up and survey our surveyors? Will this lead to a vicious cycle?

In the work, I hope to portray a cityscape in each of the graphics as well as incorporate the panoptic design.

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THE WORK IN PROGRESS

I attempted to steer away from the symmetrical composition and the literal owl. Incorporating the panopticon design, the “owl” is now an all seeing surveillance tower which would be standing out, tall and imposing against possibly a city.

I was quite pleased with the outcome of the previous draft and decided to continue working on it by adding in the surveillance and “hiding” elements to it. The panoptic “tower” in this composition would be the figure of Christ that leads up to the scales.

A towering broadcast tower that receives information/hears instead of broadcasting stands tall amongst other towers against the background with rays of light shining across the skies: like searchlights in a city hunt. I would like to incorporate elements of my previous draft into this composition to better express the line.

In the final composition, I would like to explore the concept of the public evolving to the point of taking surveillance into their own hands and turning the tables. I imagine such an outcome would escalate into anarchy or at least chaos and I hope to convey the messiness.