by Di Hu
The surveillance camera and the smartphone, one is passive and the other is active, represent two types of societies, disciplinary society and society of control as described by Gilles Deleuze.Recent advancements in techniques of control have largely blurred the boundary between the two societies. There’s no apparent difference between ruler and subjects, between passive and active, or between input and output. The artist believes the best way to portray this phenomenon is to take images of these surveillance cameras, to feel the surface of them, to analyze and compare the environment where they are placed, to clarify the ways by which they are inserted into the body of the city. Today, people can do anything in China with a smartphone in hand,including having the ability to make payments via services like Wechat or Alipay in even most unimaginable places and situations. A smartphone contains a whole life and has become life itself. Imagine scenes with a whole carriage of passengers, a young employee, a group of girls,all immersed in their smartphones, as the world around them has disappeared.