Surveillance Success / 成功監視

空間與空間內部之物件是為被凝視的對象。透過閉路監視系統，當監視者觀看監視系統的畫面時，監視者感到自己可以掌控空間與內部物件，這便是一個完成監視者動機的「有效監視狀態」。監視者對於閉路攝影系統的信任以及依賴，使其成為超越監視者肉體自身的外部器官，為監視者拓展、完成一整個監視系統的運作。於此同時，空間內部其實仍然存在其他種監視狀態的可能。在未被注意、或無法被監視器看見的地方，以至於空間內部的物件，可能反倒與閉路監視系統形成一種協作，在為空間建制化的過程中產生陰影、視覺死角。監視者所認為的有效監視，可能只是空間與空間內部物件所提供的其中一種觀看樣態而已，並非是全部的視覺結構的可能。

在「Surveillance Success」的系統規劃中，我使用一套 16 頻道閉路監視系統呈現一種空間與監視者之間誤讀的可能——監視攝影機的投影畫面將投射於被監視空間的外側。觀眾在投影畫面中將無法看見任何東西。但當觀眾直接進入空間時，卻可以發現空間的正中間存在一盆小盆栽，這一盆小盆栽存在於空間中所有監視器的共同死角，因而無法被投映在畫面上。

The space and the objects within it are positioned as objects of the gaze. Through a closed-circuit surveillance system, the observer, while viewing the monitor, may feel capable of controlling both the space and the objects it contains. This constitutes an “effective state of surveillance,” in which the observer’s intention to monitor appears to be fulfilled.

The observer’s trust in and reliance on the closed-circuit camera system transforms it into an external organ that extends beyond the physical limits of the observer’s own body, expanding their perceptual reach and completing the operation of the surveillance apparatus. At the same time, however, other possible states of surveillance continue to exist within the space. In places that remain unnoticed or cannot be seen by the cameras, the objects within the space may instead enter into a form of collaboration with the surveillance system, producing shadows and visual blind spots as the space is systematized and brought under control. What the observer understands as effective surveillance may therefore be only one mode of viewing made available by the space and its objects, rather than the totality of its possible visual structures.

In the system designed for Surveillance Success, I use a sixteen-channel closed-circuit surveillance system to present the possibility of a misreading between the space and the observer. The images captured by the surveillance cameras are projected outside the monitored space. Viewers are unable to see anything in the projected images. Yet upon entering the space itself, they discover a small potted plant positioned at its center. The plant occupies a blind spot shared by all of the surveillance cameras and therefore cannot appear in the projected image.