This Is Public Art

this is public art, originally uploaded by rina.liddle.

liddlethought
Today is the day. It seems I have been preparing for this day for over 6 months. I am projecting my dissertation final project into public space, guerilla style. This Is Public Art consists of london cctv footage that is intermittently interrupted with the text: this is public art. I will be projecting the footage back into the space where the footage originated, near Saint Paul’s tube station, in full view of the camera that gave birth to my piece and possibly the same surveiller who helped me set up the camera to my aesthetic taste.

My anxiety is running high. With a lack of technical support from my sociology-based visual program, I have yet to confirm if, in fact, a hand held generator will in fact power the data projector for a half an hour without a power surge. Apparently, the tool rental technician advised me not to power such equipment with their generator, even with a power surge protector, which they will rent to me for an extra tener. The data projector, I acquired, is not insured, of course.

But perhaps I won’t even get that far, projecting into public space, I mean. The police are quite fast here, I have noticed, with all the terrorism hoopla, which is the point. When I was in the bank control room taking portraits of the lovely chief inspector (nice ass, I have never really been drawn to men in uniform…) I couldn’t help but notice that one of the operators had noticed some kind of disturbance and dispatched someone, I am assuming by foot, to go check it out. And when I was setting up for another portrait just outside the Liverpool Street Station, the foot patrol were on me really quick-like. I would like to know if terrorists are really so clumsy as to use medium format cameras and tripods.

I guess my question, as I set out to start me day is: If I am successful with this project, as in if I get to project a half hour of footage into the space unattended to, what does that say about my project and my dissertation argument? Only failing will prove my point.