Julia Scher
Occupational Placement, 1990

 
<p>f.l.t.r.: Trevor Paglen, <em>Autonomy Cube</em>, 2015, Courtesy the artist; Metro Pictures, New York; Altman Siegel, San Francisco; Julia Scher, <em>Occupational Placement, O.P.</em>, 1989–90, Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin</p>

f.l.t.r.: Trevor Paglen, Autonomy Cube, 2015, Courtesy the artist; Metro Pictures, New York; Altman Siegel, San Francisco; Julia Scher, Occupational Placement, O.P., 1989–90, Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin

 

Julia Scher incorporates video surveillance with computer security devices. In Occupational Placement, produced originally in 1990 for the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus (US), and presented in conjunction with the exhibition Enemy of the Stars: Ronald Jones in dialogue with David Hammons, Louise Lawler, Helmar Lerski, and Julia Scher (2017) at KW, Scher juxtaposes sequences from live, permanent security system cameras, temporary cameras as well as pre recorded videos—so called “fake feeds”—which overlay images with vaguely uncanny texts. By exposing the nature of video policing, in which judgments, verifications, and identifications are made about the monitored subject, Scher’s work explores the complex formation of subjectivity and identity within the realm of surveillance. She exposes the nature of video policing as a regime of regulation in which our identities are always generated by others’ descriptions of who we are.