Reversed Surveillance
Marcel Top
Kult Books
English
Softcover
288 pages
150 x 200 mm
2024
ISBN 9789198760767
In the book Reversed Surveillance, a study of invasive surveillance technologies, artist Marcel Top critically examines and challenges the prospect of automating crime detection during protests in France. The project explores the development and legislation of mass surveillance, providing a case study on how individuals can protect themselves using the very tools designed to surveil them. Recognising that completely eliminating surveillance and its societal effects is unlikely, the initiative encourages finding ways to mitigate its impact. In Reversed Surveillance, Marcel Top demonstrates the potential of reversing surveillance dynamics to protect the right to protest. By gaining knowledge of accessible surveillance tools, individuals can help ensure police accountability.
(Source: https://kultbooks.com/store/p/reversed-surveillance-by-marcel-top)
About the Artist
Marcel Top (b. 1997, BE) is a visual artist living and working between Belgium and London. Top has recently exhibited work in occasion of .tiff at FoMu (BE), Fotofestiwal (PL), La Mediatine (BE), Utopias Photofestival Lahti (FI), Der Greif 15th anniversary past and present (DE), Openwalls Arles at Gallerie Huit (FR), Archipel_0 at Contretype (BE), 3865Km to the West Mechelen (BE), PhEST (IT), PhMuseumdays (IT) and Photo OpenUp (IT),. His works are part of the collections of the University of the Arts London and the Institut pour la photographie Lille. He was awarded the Discovery Award at encontros da imagem, the Prix Mediatine (2024), Folio #3 at the Institut pour la Photographie (2023), PhMuseum Grant, exhibition (2022), SOFAM price (2019). His work has been showcased in publications such as the Photoworks annual, British Journal of Photography, Phroom, PhMuseum, Zone Magazine and .tiff.
After studying photography at Narafi (Brussels), Marcel Top went on to take a master in photojournalism and documentary photography at the London College of Communication. Top researches the topics of mass surveillance, privacy, data collection.In his practice, he layers a traditional approach to documentary research with a more experimental use of new technologies (such as facial recognition, movement analysis, and deepfakes). The artist uses these technologies to visualise and examine scenarios in which people can protect themselves and their rights by gaining knowledge and reclaiming control of surveillance tools. Top’s projects addressing human rights, police misconduct and facial recognition during protests aim to contrast the abstract nature of the algorithmic mechanisms behind mass surveillance, by providing a concrete visualisation of the phenomenon and confronting the public with the extensive amount of surveillance societies are subjected to and the ethical risks deriving, finally offering theoretical solutions.
https://www.marceltop.com
(Source: https://www.marceltop.com/bio)
About the Publisher
Kult Books is an independent publishing project for photography and other lens-based visual arts founded by Janne Riikonen in Stockholm, Sweden. Kult Books publishes monographs and artist books that embrace a personal artistic vision and visual language. The publications are created in close collaboration with the artists, the physical form designed to support the concept of the work.
https://kultbooks.com
(Source: https://kultbooks.com/about)
