Rakel Vella
The Glass Box
The Glass Box was built with the purpose of sensitizing the viewer on online surveillance, encompassing the feeling of being watched. It is an interactive sculpture built using a Raspberry Pi connected to a thermal printer and an ultrasonic
sensor. The sensor, built into one of the fake cctv cameras, is constantly detecting the proximity to any viewer that approaches the installation. Once the viewer gets close, the thermal printer prints out a log of data. The data that
is being printed out was gathered from six participants that took part in an anonymous focus group. The participants sent their google takeout, which includes data such as; google searches, location history, transactions and audio
recordings. A database of over 200 google queries dating back to 2011 was compiled and linked to the code that runs the program on the Raspberry Pi connecting the printer and the sensor.
In the matter of the pandemic, an online implementation of The Glass Box was carried out where one can print out a log of data with the press of a button and see it livestreamed. The livestream will be online from 29/05/20 till
05/06/20 at the link indicated below.
External Links
