Symposium

Sorting Daemons Symposium

Program Information

Dave Kemp is a visual artist currently living in Toronto. His art practice looks at the intersections of and interactions between art, science and technology - particularly at how these fields shape our perception and understanding of the world. Recent activities include exhibitions at the Modern Fuel Artist-Run Centre, Kingston; IPO Gallery, Ottawa; !deas Gallery, Ontario Science Centre, Toronto; and Interaccess Media Arts Centre, Toronto.

Kemp is a graduate of the Master of Visual Studies program at the University of Toronto, where he also completed the collaborative program in Knowledge Media Design. Prior to this, he earned an Image Arts (photography) BFA, Ryerson University, Toronto, and his BScE in Mechanical Engineering, Queen's University, Kingston, ON.

 

"Data Collection: Every Card Is A Database"

Data Collection is an artist's project through which the identification cards (driver's licenses, reward cards, credit cards, etc.) carried by over 100 individuals are photographed and presented publicly on the gallery wall such that all personal information on the cards is legible to gallery viewers. The goal of the project is to challenge and register typical notions of privacy, the impulses to keep all personal information secret and hidden away. By doing the exact opposite, the project probes viewer beliefs and draws attention to the larger systems behind the cards in order to promote a more considered approach to privacy. This paper offers an overview of the project, and addresses privacy/security issues related to ID cards and their associated databases, illustrated by anecdotal accounts of Data Collection participants' responses.