Symposium

Sorting Daemons Symposium

Program Information

Jonathan Finn is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University. He is the author of Capturing the Criminal Image: From Mug Shot to Surveillance Society (Minnesota 2009). His research focuses on photography and photographic representation and he is currently developing a new research project on visual technologies and sport.

 

"Seeing Surveillantly: Surveillance as Social Practice"

In additional to the steady rise of surveillance programs and technologies over the past few decades, surveillance increasingly appears as a subject in film, television, video games, social networking sites, advertising and art. In this way, surveillance has become a key feature of contemporary life. This paper raises the question: given the prominence of surveillance cameras and surveillance imagery in contemporary life, do we now see surveillantly? Can we speak of surveillance less as a technology than as a way of seeing? And, if so, how and why would such a distinction be useful? The paper draws from work in the history and theory of photography to situate surveillance less as a technology than as a social practice: a way of seeing, understanding and engaging with the world around us. Using examples from film, television, advertising, art and citizen journalism, the paper explores what it might mean to see surveillantly.