Alexandre Arrechea

Alexandre Arrechea’s work The Garden of Mistrust, 2003-2005, is composed of an aluminum tree painted over with white enamel with 22 surveillance cameras attached to the tips of its branches.  The cameras constantly record the viewers’ actions using the branches’ sensors, and then transmit those images onto the internet. Surveillance cameras were invented for public places for our protection; however, it has become a powerful and unrestricted tool that invades our personal lives.  Through their use, the artist reveals the state of surveillance and control that our current society has been placed in. This reminds us of the situation in George Orwell’s “1984,” where people are constantly watched and controlled by those in power.