Objects of Information

The metadata in this work each corresponds to an image taken on a smartphone, where the camera allows the phone to register its current location and attach a geotag to the image. Through this, every photograph becomes a precise trace of your movements. This is often a default setting, and although the user may adjust this at any time, we are often left unaware that our phones are even capable of this.

However, this is just one example of the constant collection of data from our daily uses of technology; every conversation, every Google search, every post on social media and beyond is reduced to masses of metadata to be filtered, analysed and stored by private companies and government intelligence agencies. This process is endless, and begs the question: are we, as human beings, merely objects of information to society’s governing powers?