Observation Devices includes drawings made from direct observation, rubbings, wood sculptures, 3D scans, 3D prints, 35mm slide photographs, community-engaged drawing events, walks and text. Each work depicts fragments of public space and public infrastructure in and around Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood.
Charcoal drawings of Police Observation Devices at LeMoyne/Washtenaw and Potomac/Washtenaw
Observation Devices, invokes the official name of the Chicago Police Department’s surveillance cameras: Police Observation Devices. These cameras are part of Operation Virtual Shield, one of the largest networks of public and private surveillance infrastructure in the world. When plans for this surveillance network were unveiled, Mayor Richard Daley declared it was the city’s goal to have “a camera on every corner.”
Operation Virtual Shield offers the citizens of Chicago two false promises: a total picture of Chicago, and increased safety through police surveillance.
Graphite rubbing of the ground below a Police Observation Device
Process documentation: making a graphite rubbing below a Police Observation Device
Observation Devices is an expansion and critique of Operation Virtual Shield. Its intention is to de-center the picture of the public generated by and for the Chicago Police Department. With Observation Devices, I hope to demonstrate ways that observation can foster intimacy, connection, curiosity and a more complex understanding of the public and public space.
Portable observation studio. This studio is made from a found milk crate. The milk crate holds drawing supplies and a removable plywood stool/platform. A camera obscura is built into the bottom of the milk crate. Shoulder straps are made from bike tubes for easy carrying.
Carved wood miniatures of streetlights with Police Observation Devices at various corners throughout Humboldt Park.