Immanence

Paul Mathews & Timothy J.

2013

Installation consisting of sonic and visual elements, designed to provide an unsettling experience through use of non-tactile sensors, reactive moving parts and live sampling of sound. Uses found objects to anchor a particular aesthetic with custom designed functional components.

Conceptually functions to question issues of privacy as a fundamental civil liberty and the degradation of this ideal in a technological age. Provoked by the recent GCSB bill in New Zealand and the revelations concerning the NSA's wide ranging digital surveillance in the USA, this installation seeks to provoke observers to question their relationships with technology as a tool for the erosion of privacy by using simple and easily obtainable data to produce an awkward technological response.

Immanence was installed at the Sonic Arts Engineering Expo 2013 at Victoria University of Wellington. Immanence was featured in a collection of student works from both the Victoria University School of Engineering and the New Zealand School of Music. Situated in the central hub of the university's Kelburn campus, the installation drew a large amount of attention during the time it was installed.