TWO SO(U)NS

The beginning of the 21st Century marks the height of experiencing events at a far remove, mediated by communications technologies that take the position of the snooper - the prying electronic eye. Our evenings are haunted by panoptic imagery, from reality TV that exhibit our ‘reality’ through an uninvolved camera, to round-the-clock satellite surveillance. The one-sided gaze is naturally aggressive. Long gone are the days when the eyes could only perceive with the aid of sunlight, the cyberoptic ‘evil’ eye illuminates the target 24/7, born as a new sun to govern both day and night.

Concept for an exhibition at the Tate and an accompanying booklet to represent the phenomenon of panopticism and perpetual satellite vision in modern-day living. The sun streams through one end of the Turbine hall (a la Olafur Eliasson), and a spotlight hangs from the other, both shining towards a spot in the middle. The exhibition is based on the story of Cain & Abel, the two sons of Adam and Eve, and base the ‘death of the natural light’/’birth of a belligerant artificial light’ on the biblical story of murder and banishment.