Open AccessChallenging Black Box Technology Power Imbalances by Exposing Them: “Persuasive System” as a Prism for Decomposing Contemporary Surveillance
Author(s) -
Philip Di Salvo,
Salvatore Vitale
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
surveillance and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1477-7487
DOI - 10.24908/ss.v19i4.15117
Subject(s) - invisibility , conceptualization , prism , biometrics , black box , power (physics) , sociology , computer security , computer science , political science , artificial intelligence , optics , physics , quantum mechanics
This article contributes to the discussion around surveillance invisibility by engaging with the existing literature and discussing Salvatore Vitale’s “Persuasive System” installation as a case study. Based on the conceptualization of surveillance as a “black box,” the article frames power imbalances involved in biometrics and video surveillance technologies and shows how Vitale’s installation aims at playing with and exposing these dynamics by reconfiguring them.