Marcel Top (b. 1997, BE) is a visual artist living and working between Belgium and London. He researches the topics of mass surveillance, privacy and data collection. In his practice, he layers a traditional approach to documentary research with a more experimental use of new technologies. 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.
Reversed Surveillance
2024 – 2025
450 x A5 color prints, mounted with nails
4 x A1 print on wood display
Invasive surveillance technologies are constantly evolving. These are mostly developed out of state military interests. In Top's work “Reversed Surveilance”, a new technology enters the picture: automatic facial recognition with the help of AI-controlled programs. Triggered by the automation of crime detection during the Olympic Games in Paris, which required a specially created law (No. 2023-380), he reverses the view of the monopoly on the use of force. The supervisors and regulators are observed and evaluated by Top's program itself. His AI uses their parameters to calculate the emotional states of the police officers. Each of the 450 prints contains a recording and measurement of the emotionality of the police officers. In addition, there are four panels with instructions on how to follow these yourself and how his program works.
It is important for Top to point out the conflict between the human nature of emotions and the distanced mechanical view of artificial intelligence by directing surveillance at state power itself.
