Lauren Lee McCarthy is a very influential and successful artist whose work centers around our “social relationships in the midst of surveillance, automation, and algorithmic living”1. In her talk she speaks of multiple art projects. Three of those stood out to me the most: LAUREN, SOMEONE, and Follower.
In LAUREN, McCarthy plays the role of a human Alexa, controlling people’s homes. She first installs the equipment necessary in order to remotely alter things in the house. Her plan, or expectation, was to exceed the performance of the AI as she could connect to the homeowners on a human level and could complete tasks without direction from them. For example, “contact their friends through Facebook to arrange a visit or a text message”2.
The purpose of this project is to explore the lines between convenience and privacy, as well as intimacy. She also touches on the place and role of humans in a digitally driven world. McCarthy believes that the experience she created, LAUREN, allows people to really think about how it feels to have an AI take charge of the most personal space they have.
SOMEONE is a project that grew from LAUREN. Similarly to LAUREN, four homes were prepared with the necessary smart equipment. However this time, it wasn’t just McCarthy on the other end. Visitors could go to the 205 Hudson Gallery in New York and control the participants’ homes. The visitors in control of the homes can now experience a smart home device from the other side. This causes the narrative to switch in the conversation about technology and humans as well as providing a fresh perspective.3
Just as how the participants in SOMEONE were watched or “followed”, McCarthy created a service in which users are provided with an in-person follower for one day. The user signs up, downloads the app, and waits to be informed that they will be followed on a random day. At the end of the day, the “follower” or McCarthy, sends the user a picture she had taken of them throughout the day. The project places the “audience” in a sense of danger and risk.
This project touches on attention and surveillance as well as the relationship between them. Humans have a need to feel connected with and understood by others. This is mirrored in social media with followers, whom we equate to be people that care about or understand us.