Dear David: Blindspots

'Dear David' by OONA is a virtual love letter. 

It is built entirely from CCTV footage of the artist in the London Underground, framing the body as an object tracked by state surveillance systems.

It is addressed to David, a Transport for London employee of 29 years, who processes public requests for CCTV access (a right that every person has within a 14-day period of their capture). 

Each time OONA performed on the Underground, she requested the CCTV footage, corresponding via email with David. This correspondence allowed the artist to build a relationship with someone else who also operates in a form of public anonymity, not completely dissimilar to that of the her own artistic anonymity. 

To retrieve her footage, OONA documented what she was wearing and her exact movements, platforms and carriages with precision. After receiving OONA’s personal information and corresponding paperwork, David then used various recognition softwares to object track OONA throughout the stations, blurring the identity’s of others.

In this love letter, OONA reaches through the surveillance technology to find and adore the human on the other side.

____

This work was exhibitied at the Digital Art Mile Art Basel Switzerland curated by The Second Guess.