Open Secret | 2017
Installation and Interactive performance
Duration 8 x 2 = 16 hours
Size: 240 x 144 x 96 in | 609 x 366 x 244 cm
November 11 and 12, 2017
A one to one interaction set in urban space –
a Shopping Mall.
The performance investigates the issues of privacy, identity and the tools of mass surveillance, using Aadhaar – The UID project. It was a one to one interaction with the public asking the audience for their fingerprints and Aadhaar number. to create a drawing that is an archive of the visitors who visited the venue on the said dates.
Here I myself, symbolically dressed in a self-created fictional uniform of an Indian Official, which has two shades of uniform representing the dual nature of the project Aadhar, which one side benefits the Government by registering its citizens and at the same time raises privacy concerns for the Indian Nationals proposing a state of surveillance. I replaced the name on my nameplate with my Aadhar number.
Local Public was invited by the means of the announcement as a metaphor for advertising in the consumerist era. The audience was asked to show their Aadhaar number to enter inside.
The consent of the audience is then asked if they want to give the print of their fingerprints and Aadhar number for recording their visit to the mall. The fingerprints and numbers become the testimony of the awareness levels of the current generation.
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The project took place in:
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Documentation of the project