The "net" version of Stanza's Urban Generation is visually rich and noticeably silent. As twelve live data streams alternately stutter in and out of existence and flow into abstract patterns and textures, the "live" scenes captured in real-time on CCTVs scattered throughout London quickly morph into kaleidoscopic Rorschachs that alter our initial perceptions and demand analysis. A generative work, it calls into question the "urban generation," a period during which the threat of terrorism has made our environment ripe for surveillance and privacy abuse. Private space has become public space, public space has evolved into covertly "governed" or overtly corporate space.

While Stanza is well known for his interactive/participatory art, the "viewer" is forced to passively observe this piece, which simultaneously serves as a call to action.

According to the Associated Press "[a]n estimated 4.2 million cameras - largely concentrated in London and other major cities - observe Britons as they go about their daily business, [and] it is widely estimated that the average Briton is caught on various cameras up to 300 times on a normal day."1

In the "reality" version of Urban Generation, the innards of a Dell computer, including an inoperable mouse and keyboard (rendering us powerless), are scattered across the surface of a large pedestal above which the gallery visitor must peer down, equating the "seer" with the elevated location of the majority of CCTV cameras. There are eight 15" LCDs, all of which display the "net" section of Urban Generation. Real and virtual, tangible and immaterial, fixed and constantly changing, the mass of wires, switches, circuit boards and LCD screens invokes the notion of the network exposed, turned inside out, laid bare for all to examine.

Urban Generation combines interior and exterior, and makes visible that which invisibly and silently tracks our movements, habits, and preferences. It forces us to ask ourselves whether pervasive surveillance is inevitable, and whether it is sufficient to allow these billions of hours of stored data to serve as evidence after the fact rather than prevention.

[ Jo-Anne Green, Co-Director, Turbulence.org ]

1. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8501576/ : 07.07.2005