Little Brother Is Watching You (Watch Him)

A A A Comments By Tara Jepsen Wednesday, Feb 16 2011

We knew a girl in high school whose father, in an effort to dissuade her from becoming a drunk, got her loaded on tequila shots one night and forced her to do 100 push-ups when she woke in the morning. This led to her vomiting profusely. Similarly, artist Hasan Elahi has tried to disabuse the U.S. government of its taste for surveilling him, by tracking and documenting himself exhaustively, from the toilets he uses to the half-finished hot dogs with sauerkraut he eats. More than 20,000 images of his life exist on his website, www.trackingtransience.net, as well as real-time information about his location, generated by a GPS he keeps in his pocket. After being detained at the Detroit airport in 2002 by the FBI, which had mistakenly added him to a terrorist watch list, Elahi decided to circumvent future trouble by staying in regular contact with the FBI. “Hiding in Plain Sight” contains several monitors that stream images from his life, collected in excruciating detail via his cellphone and other devices. Persuading the United States government to abandon surveillance may be as feasible as trying to get a teenager not to drink, but the process of resistance is infinitely more fascinating.

More About

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Events Newsletter: What's happening in town? From underground club nights to the biggest outdoor festivals, our top picks for the week's best events will always keep you in on the action.

The opening reception for “Hiding in Plain Sight” starts at 7 p.m.
Tuesdays-Saturdays. Starts: March 2. Continues through April 23, 2011

Check out this week's featured ad for Arts

Priceless Medical Evaluations

View Ad View Website

More Ads >>

Get the Events Newsletter

What's happening in town? From underground club nights to the biggest outdoor festivals, our top picks for the week's best events will always keep you in on the action.