At left is an image from Vancouver artist Ken Lum’s 1997 installation Photo-Mirror. The 10-piece work was acquired by the MacKenzie Art Gallery in 2008, and until April 5 it will form the basis for the exhibition Persons of Interest.
You can read more on the exhibition on the gallery website. As viewers of network TV will perhaps recognize, the exhibition title was inspired by the futuristic CBS crime drama Person of Interest which involves a former CIA and Green Beret operative teaming up with a reclusive billionaire to try to thwart crimes before they are committed by relying on information gathered through a massive security/surveillance network run by the American government.
Lum’s installation doesn’t delve directly into our ever deepening dystopian reality, but through his use of uncredited photos (the one above is simply subtitled Graduate) and domestic mirrors, he does invite viewers to consider notions of public vs. private space and our growing reliance on surveillance to maintain public order.
Again, Persons of Interest runs at the MacKenzie Gallery until April 5.
