Surveillance: Tagging the Other 1992

Mixed media installation with 4 video monitors,
projection and sound

This piece was made in response to issues arising in the run-up to the instigation of the single European market in 1992 but seem hauntingly pertinent now. Sound is an important part of this work, featuring fragments of news reports related to the rise of racist attacks, antisemitism and right-wing tendencies across Europe. Four monitors, installed in a row, show the artist’s head being a target of surveillance and control. His black body is scrutinised in terms of ethnicity, gender, citizenship and appearance. Piper draws our attention to how notions of safety, civility, control and order are colour-coded, and within this, the black body becomes a signifier of poverty, crime, incivility and distrust.