MELINDA SIPOS

is a creator working at the intersection of art, design and technology.

The Coastwatch Project

2011 • Kitchen Budapest 2007-2012

bloc (Creative Technology Wales) commissioned Kitchen Budapest to realize a time based, temporary, experimental land work, in a challenging environment, on the coast of West Wales. They asked 'what happens to the internet once it meets the coast?' As a response, in the course of a three-days coastal residency in Pembrokshire, a group of three artists from Kitchen Budapest created the CoastWatch Project.

We built a temporary statue that aims to evoke the illusion of a CCTV. This object is very common all over the world. CCTV stands for Closed-circuit television so its signal is not openly transmitted. Usually it is being used for security reasons or general observance. It is an emblematic object that implicates the presence of an invisible surveillance system, which networks the world. This topic has been widely discussed mainly because of privacy issues.

The installation was equipped with a webcam, which was connected to the Internet. With the help of the webcam we streamed the creation of the piece and then it's view. By putting this regular object in an unusual context in a peculiar scale we proposed various discussions: * Can this object become a statue and/or tourist attraction? * Creating tension by the juxtaposition of the rural landscape and a particular technology. * Is there anything to watch there? Do we need a surveillance cam out there? * Can a positive property be add to this object? * Transforming the negative property of the CCTV into an object that watches rather than the violence of big cities, the beauty of the Welsh landscape. * CCTV -> OCTV* (Open-circuit televison)

The astounding piece creates a unique moment to talk, doubt, rethink and imagine our future use of technology on the welsh coast.

http://coastwatchproject.kibu.hu

Concept@design: László Kiss, Gáspár Hajdu, Melinda Sipos Structure: Gáspár Hajdu Project management: Melinda Sipos

@KIBU&bloc

CONTACT

Instagram: melindasipos Email: sipos.melinda@gmail.com