SURVEILLANCE KAWAII
かわいいサーベイランス
2017 - ongoing
Right click to enlarge
Pencils on Paper and Digital Manipulation
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Surveillance Kawaii
(かわいい kawaii = adorable in Japanese)
it’s an artwork conceived to be developed as a textile pattern designed to be worn through a variety of different clothing garments.
Surveillance Kawaii conceals | reveals secret camouflaged messages hidden in plain sight : a fairy-tale allegory on the mass surveillance's defeat.
The pattern design embeds a QR-code printed on fabric which allow the contents to travels publicly, when passersby scan the code, they can read the story enclosed in the pattern.
Wearing apparel plays an unconventional role : it becomes a bearer of knowledge.
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Surveillance Kawaii plays on the ambiguous and disturbing imbalances of our contemporary mass surveilled society, paradoxically combined with childish, playful and innocent aesthetic of a promiment aspect belonging to the culture of cuteness, the Japanese Kawaii.
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The result is an ironic, ornamental and alienating scenario, amongst Renaissance aesthetics and joyful and glowing colors, symbols are glimpsing : biometric facial recognition diagram, the Panopticon map, a shattered Prism and memes related to the Internet censorship topic and social control.
In Surveillance Kawaii the cuteness value isn’t merely exploited as a graphic expedient by its “fundamentalist tenderness”
and its consumerist entertaining allure,
but above all it encloses a metaphor of vulnerability that Kawaii culture promotes and sells, enhancing the same feeling of fragility on which the entire surveillance industry thrives, breeding meekness and fostering collective conformity towards fear and self-censorship.
![]()
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The project exhibits and underlines the normalization of the mass surveillance’s culture, the social disciplinary security disguised by pastel colors and fancy trinkets
![]()
Pencils on Paper and Digital Manipulation
Surveillance Kawaii
(かわいい kawaii = adorable in Japanese)
it’s an artwork conceived to be developed as a textile pattern designed to be worn through a variety of different clothing garments.
Surveillance Kawaii conceals | reveals secret camouflaged messages hidden in plain sight : a fairy-tale allegory on the mass surveillance's defeat.
The pattern design embeds a QR-code printed on fabric which allow the contents to travels publicly, when passersby scan the code, they can read the story enclosed in the pattern.
Wearing apparel plays an unconventional role : it becomes a bearer of knowledge.
Where does the QR code leads?
Here
Here
Surveillance Kawaii plays on the ambiguous and disturbing imbalances of our contemporary mass surveilled society, paradoxically combined with childish, playful and innocent aesthetic of a promiment aspect belonging to the culture of cuteness, the Japanese Kawaii.
The result is an ironic, ornamental and alienating scenario, amongst Renaissance aesthetics and joyful and glowing colors, symbols are glimpsing : biometric facial recognition diagram, the Panopticon map, a shattered Prism and memes related to the Internet censorship topic and social control.
In Surveillance Kawaii the cuteness value isn’t merely exploited as a graphic expedient by its “fundamentalist tenderness”
and its consumerist entertaining allure,
but above all it encloses a metaphor of vulnerability that Kawaii culture promotes and sells, enhancing the same feeling of fragility on which the entire surveillance industry thrives, breeding meekness and fostering collective conformity towards fear and self-censorship.
The project exhibits and underlines the normalization of the mass surveillance’s culture, the social disciplinary security disguised by pastel colors and fancy trinkets
HOW TO READ THE ARTWORK
ENG ITA
Pure Cotton 125 gr
Microfibre and Satin lining
MORE INFO on garments
TOOL KIT
Posters in free digital download to be shared online
or pasted up all over the streets | walls | public spaces
Thank you Crimethinc. for the wheatpasting guide
Surveillance Kawaii X CYBER FASHION WEEK
Cyber Fashion Week its the first-of-its-kind international virtual fashion week showcased on digital platform
CFW is powered by Trashyclothing a groundbreaking Palestinian brand run by a pionieristic collective of artists
My collaboration for the 2nd CFW Edition
Thanks to
Stylist : sadplathh
Stars + Alpaca animation : Dan Derham
Animation : Omar Braika
Single Artworks
Pencils on Paper | Various sizes
Càonǐmā
Petit
Floral Wreath
Grand
Floral Wreath
Fata dei Prismi
Felcina
Portrait
Right click to enlarge
Studies on 草泥马 Càonǐmā
Paper | 5 x 5 cm
Surveillance Kawaii has been published by
the independent art magazine ISIT
Issue #002
More Surveillance Kawaii‘s
special contents and feature on the magazine website
Surveillance Kawaii
is the first theme of a series called Subliminal Textiles©.
is the first theme of a series called Subliminal Textiles©.
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